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FALL RIVER 
NDIAN RESERVATION 



BY 

HUGO A. DUBUQUE 

City Solicitor of Fall River. 



FALL RIVER, MASS. 
1907. 



APR 11 1907 

D. of D. 



INTRODUCTION. 

On January 23, 1907, a petition signed by Hon. John T. 
lin. mayor of Fall River, was presented to the legislature of Massa- 
chusetts accompanied by House Bill No. 868 (1907), which was 
prepared hurriedly and only intended to comply with the rule 
which requires that a bill should accompany a petition for legisla- 
tion. Upon perfecting its measure, the City of Fall Rivi 
desires to offer as a substitute for House Bill No. 8*58 the following 

SUBSTITUTE HILL. 

COMMONWEALTH OF MASSACHUSETTS. 

In the year one thousand nine hundred and seven. 

An Act Relating to the Indian Reservation and Water Supply 
of Fall River. 

/.\ it enacted by the Senatt and ll<>u.<i of Representatives in 
General Court assembled, and by the authority of the same, as 
follows:— 

Section 1. Whereas certain lands situate in Fall River, in a 
section thereof called Indian Town, lying on the easterly side of 
North Watuppa pond, were conveyed to the Province of the .Massa- 
chusetts Bay to he held as an Indian plantation or reservation to 
the use and occupancy of Indians; and whereas the Commonwealth 
of Massachusetts has succeeded to the rights and title of the 
Province of the Massachusetts Bay in said lands and may have 
obtained title to some part thereof bj >r otherwise; and 

whereas there are apparently no Indians lefl on the same, excepl 
one family, claiming to be such, namely, that of Fanny L. Perry, 
occupyinga small portion of the land of said reservation; and where- 
as it is necessary that a part of said Indian reservation be owned 
and controlled by the city of Fall River for the protection of its water 
supply, now taken from said North Watuppa pond; it is herebj 
enacted that the title of the Commonwealth to the parcel of said 
Indian reservation near said pond, and hereafter described be, and 
the same is, hereby conveyed to the said citj of Fall River for the 



protection of the purity of its water supply; namely, a certain trad 
of land situate in Fall River, in the county of Bristol, bounded and 
described as follows, viz: beginning at a drill hole in a stone 
bound sel into the ground in the southerlj line of Indian Town 
road, nineteen hundred and nineteen and 37-100 (1919.37) feet 
easterly from the intersection of said southerly lino of Indian 
Town road with the easterly line of Blossom road; thence running 
in a southerly direction to a drill hole in a -lone bound sot in the 
ground at the northeasterly corner of land of the city of Fall 
River, recently purchased from Alfred Bridge; thence westerly in 
line of land of the city of Fall River to land of the city of Fall 
River and the North Watuppa pond; thence northerly by land of 
the city of Fall River and said pond to the northerly line of the 
land of said Indian reservation; tl terly in said northerly 

l;e Indian Town road; thence to the point of beginning; 
containing one hundred and one and seven tenths acres of land, 
more or less, exclusive of highways crossing said tract. 

SECTION 2. The city of Fall River may take in fee simple, by 
right of eminent domain, the lands above described forminga part 
of the Indian Reservation, for the protection of its water supply. 
in North Watuppa Pond; and if upon a vote of its Reservoir Com- 
mission or of its city council it decides so to do, then it may file 
and record a statement of such taking in the office of the registrj 
of deeds, in the Fall River District, of the County of Bristol, 
Kivintr a description of the land taken; and also tile a plan of the 
same; both such statement and plan being duly signed by its 
mayor; and when such statement and plan are duly signed, filed 
and recorded a- aforesaid, then said described lands shall become 
and remain the proper! \ of said city of Fall River, in fee simple. 

Section '■'>. Anyone aggrieved, or entitled to damages, by 

reason of any the | bj this act may r 

the same from the citj of Fall River, by filing a petition in the 
Superior Court for the County of Bristol, within one year from the 
date of taking aforesaid. The aforesaid damages shall he a 
in 1 lie same manner as lands taken for the protection of the water 
supply of Fall River, as provided in section four of chapter one 
red and fourteen of the Acts of the year eighteen hundred 
and ninety one; hut all sums received by the petitioners or 
predecessors in title from the Commonwealth or said city in the 
way of Indian or other relief, the obligations placed upon said city 
Mon four of this act, or bj I al laws relating to the 

of relief or otherwise applicable to the petitioners; th< 



Ill 

payment of taxes by the petitioners or predecessors in title, or 
their failure to discharge public obligations or to participate in the 

support <>r maintenance of city, county, state or national govern- 
ments or to contribute to the state whatever was required in any 
deed relating to said lands and all other easements, conditions, 
water and flowage rights connected with said lands, the occupancy 
or use of said lands: am! whatever other matters may be allowed 
by way of set off, recoupment, counterclaim or mitigation of 
damages, shall be allowed in reduction of damages for the taking 
of the lands aforesaid. Interest on the sums recovered shall only 
run at the rate of four per centum per annum from the date of 
taking: but in ease of occupancy after the taking, such interest 
shall only run from the termination of such occupancy. 

Section 4. The city of Fall River, its successors or assigns, 
shall maintain and discharge towards the present rightful occu- 
pants of the land conveyed or taken all duties that the Common- 
wealth is lawfully required to perform as the successor of the 
Province of Massachusetts Kay. But said city if it take the land 
before described, and if it decide, hereafter, that the houses or 
other buildings on the parts herein conveyed or taken should be 
removed, to a place beyond the area deemed necessary for the 
protection of the purity of its water supply, shall remove such 
buildings and all persons and their chattels, at its expense, to such 
other part of said Indian reservation. as may be without such area, 
and shall make suitable provision in the same buildings or in similar 
ones to be used by said occupants for a comfortable dwelling 
therein, and for safe and reasonable means of access thereto from 
the public road or highway. 

Section 5. This act shall take effect upon its passage. 



THE INDIAN RESERVATION 

and the 

WATER SUPPLY 

of 

FALL RIVER. 

1907. 



BRIEF FOR THE CITY OF FALL RIVER. 

The City of Fall River has presented a petition to the legisla- 
ture of Massachusetts of 1907, through its mayor, at the request 
of its Reservoir Commission, which has charge of the protection 
of its water supply, asking for a special ad transferring to the 
said City the interests of the Commonwealth, if any. in certain 
lands of the Fall River Indian Reservation; and authorizing it to 
condemn, by right of eminent domain, for the protection of the 
purity of its water supply, a pail of said lands lying within the 
water shed of North Watuppa Pond which is the source of Fall 
River's water supply. 

1. In 1(556 Wamsutta, sachem of the Pocasset tribe of Indians, 
by leave of the colonial court of Plymouth, sold the four mile tract, 
known as "Ye Freemen's Purchase", to 26 purchasers. 
Fenner, History Fall River, (1906), pp. i 5, 
Collective History Freetown, (1902), />. 1. 
Peirce, Indian History, (1878), p. 238 

In 1683 the government of Plymouth colony organized the 
above purchasers into a town, called Freetown, in the following 
words: 

".July, 168:!. This courl orders that the inhabitants of the 
I- reemen's land att the Fall River shal be a Township and ha e a 
Constable and Grand .Jury men and henceforth be called by the 
name of Freetown." 

Peirce, Indian History, />. 243, .//>/>. 

The "Freemen's Purchase" included what is now the town of 
Freetown and about half of what is now Fall River. 



2. In 1803, the "southerly part of Freetown in the County of 
Bristol" was divided, and the town of Fall River was established. 

St. L802, Chop. 89, Approved February 26tA, L803. 
In 1804 the name of Fall River was changed to "Troy". 
St. 1804, CA. 2. 

In 1834 the name of the town, which for nearly thirty years 
had been Troy, was changed back again to Fall River, to remain 
so to this day. 

St. 1834, CA. 14. 

In 1854 the town of Fall River was organized into a city. 
First city charter: 

St. 1854, CA. 257. 

Second city charter; 

St. 1885, ( A. 269. 
Third city charter; 

St. 1902, CA. 393. 

3. In 1871 the city of Fall River was "authorized to take, 
hold and convey into and through the said city, by suitable aque- 
ducts or pipes the waters of the North Watuppa Pond." to supply 
its inhabitants with water. 

St. 1871, CA. 133. 

Under this statute it constructed its water works and expend- 
ed several million dollars in providing tanks, pipes and hydrants 
to convey the waters of the North Watuppa Pond into the different 
parts of the city for domestic, fire and manufacturing purposes. 

4. In consequence of the large increase of population, in 
Fall River, it became necessary, first, to avoid the occupancy of 
land within the water shed of the North Watuppa Pond, to pre- 
serve the purity of the water in the same, and, second, to provide 
a storage basin to increase the capacity of the water supply from 
this Pond. 

Beginning with 189] there was passed a series of acts for the 
protection of the Fall River water supply. 

St. 1891, CA. 11 I 

St. is!)!'. CA. 362; 

St. IS!).-), CA. 478, 

St. 1897, CA. 285. 



These acts provided, in substance, thai thecitj of Fall River 
might condemn, by eminent domain, or acquire by purchase, the 
lands lying within the water shed of North Watuppa Pond. 

In 1 81 )5 . the Reservoir Commission, charged with the duty of 
carrying out the purposes of the special legislation just alluded to, 
was created by an ordinance of the city council of Fall River. 
Fall / d Ordinances, ('//. 45. 

In pursuance of the authority granted by the legislature, 
under the special laws cited, the Reservoir Commission condemned 
and purchased the lands bordering on said North Watuppa Pond, 
to prevent the contamination of its waters, and the various springs, 
streams or brooks feeding: the same. 

In 1905 a new ordinance was passed, repealing the former 
one, and reconstituting: the Reservoir Commission on a different 
basis. So that, under the ordinance now in force, the three mem- 
bers of the Water Hoard, with the mayor and the city engineer, 
form the Reservoir Commission. 

Fall River City Doc. L905, pp. 651-2 

In 1902 the Reservoir Commission secured the services of Mr. 
Arthur T. Safford, of Lowell, as a special consulting engineer on 
the subject of Fall River's water supply, its increased capacity and 
the protection of its purity. 

He made a voluminous report, accompanied by maps and 
various recommendations, among which was the necessity of 
securing all the lands adjacent to the pond, and within the water 
shed thereof. 

Report •' Commission, \ L902) pp. 1174 5. 

5. The city has expended, for the protection of its water 
supply, in the purchase of land, around the North Watuppa Pond, 
since the first special act passed for the purpose, (St. 1891, Ch. 
Ill), the sum of $272,955.87. And it is now engaged in securing 
the small pari that remains to be purchased or condemned. 

6. Under the special acts cited, while the city is authorized 
to take land by eminent domain to protect its water supply, it is 
not authorized to take the lands that the State is interested in, or 
that it holds for a different public purpose. 

The rule seems to he that where lands are devoted to a public 
purpose they cannol lie applied, under a general law, to a new or 
different public use. when the latter is inconsistent with the 
former. 

i 1892) . Brooklim . 15C Mass. Ml. 



6 

As was said by Chief Justice Shaw: "It sometimes happens 
that the full enjoyment of two public rights would, to some 
extent, interfere with each other; as where a highway, turnpike 
or railroad crosses a navigable stream. It is then for the legisla- 
ture to determine which shall yield, and to what extent 

accordingto the greater preponderance of public necessity ami 
convenience". 

I 1859) ( ommonwealth i\ Essex Company, 13 Graj 239,247. 

The title to lands in which the State has an interest does not 
pass by implication but requires a special grant. 

i 1832) I 'nited Irredondo, 6 Peters 691,738. 

Rose's notes to same. p. ."525 and cases cited; 
i 1 837) ( harles River Bridge v. Warren Bridgt 1 1 Peters 4 17. 
Rose's notes to do. p. l>N2 and cases cited. 

7. A grant of title of public lands may he made by an act of 
the legislature; and if such an act be passed, then there is no need 
of the state executing a deed in the usual form. 

I 1st:.) Mayo : / ibby, VI Mass 

I 1828) I Vard v. Bartholomew, 6 Pick. 111. 

(1819) Baker v. Fales, Pi Mass 188 

8. The maintenance of an Indian Reservation would imply 
the use of buildings and dwelling houses thereon; whereas the 
appropriation of land by the city, to prevent the contamination of 
its water supply, implies that barns, pig pens, outhouses and 
dwelling houses shall not I"' erected thereon. Therefore, the two 
purposes being practically inconsistent, it requires a clear expres- 
sion of legislative intent, by a special act. to authorize the city of 
Fall River to condemn any part of the lands of the Indian Reserva- 
tion. 

p. Another reason for the special act is that the title to these 
lands is uncertain; yet the city of Fall River must have a clear 
title to apply the same to the public use which it has in view. 
Tlie lands in question were conveyed to the Province of Massachu- 
setts Bay, as will appeal- hereafter. A division of the lands was 
subsequentlj made, but the State kept exercising control over 
them, as well as over the occupants thereof. All the Indians 
granted land in severalty bj the partition of 17»il have, of course. 

long been dead, and no one is absolutely certain that any of their 

true lineal descendants are in existence to-day. 



The lands in question are no\* occupied by a single family, 
namely, thai of Fanny L Perry; but it is not intended to disturb 
her occupancy, if the special act, prayed for, is granted by the 

legislature. She has a settlement in Fall River and has rei 
relief, in the past, and is entitled to it in the future, under the 
general laws. In other words, the city id' Fall River is obliged to 
provide for her support in case of need. 

10. The city has expended, in poor relief, to occupants <d' 
these lands, the sum of $2,837.94, from L870 in date, of which 
$2,089.20 have heen paid for the support of Fanny L. P 
family. 

Constitutional Law. 

11. In 1788 when the constitution of the United States was 
finally adopted, it was provided therein that "Congress shall have 
power to regulate commerce with foreign nation 

among the several states, and with the Indian tribes " 

U. S. Co?ist. .lit. 1 § 8. 

This gave exclusive jurisdiction to the federal government 
over Indian tribes that still maintained a tribal organization, and 
prevented the states from interfering with the same thereafter. 

(1832) Wore, ' ■ Georgia, 6 Pet rs 515, 
i 1856) Fellows : . Blacksmith, 19 How. 366. 

12. But the several states still kept jurisdiction of the 
remnants of tribes that did not maintain the attributes of tribal 
government : 

"In some of the old states — Massachusetts, Rhode Island and 
others— where small remnants of tribes remain, surrounded by 
white population, and who. by their reduced numbers, had lost the 
power of self government, the laws of the state have been 
extended over them, for the protection of their persons and 
property"; 

McLean, J. in 

(lv;-. 1 ) Worcesterv. Georgia, 6 Peters, 515. 

And in our own state. Gray, J. said: 

"The remnants of Indian tribes, residing within the limits of 
the Commonwealth, having ed bj any treaties 

or executive or legislative acts of tin enl of the United 



States, as independent political communities, were under the con- 
trol of the legislature of the state." 

(1871) Pan-til i. Wcbquish, 108 \faa 133. 

Title to Indian Lands. 

We have on this subject a very instructive decision of Chief 
Justice Marshall in 

(1823) Tohnson : Mcintosh,^ W/icaton 543; 5 La* : 681 

He says at page 570: "On the discovery of this immense 
continent, the great nations of Europe were eager to appropriate 
to themselves so much of it as they could respectivelj acquire. 
Its vast extent offered an ample Held to the ambition and enter- 
prise of all: and the character and religion of its inhabitants 
afforded an apology for considering them as a people over whom 
the superior genius of Europe might claim an ascendency. The 
potentates of the old world found no difficulty in convincing them- 
selves that the.v made ample compensation to the inhabitants of 
the new, by bestowing on them civilization and Christianity, in 
exchange for unlimited independence. But. as they were all in 
pursuit of nearly the same object, it was necessary, in order to 
avoid conflicting settlements, and consequent war with each 
other, to establish a principle which all should acknowledge as the 
law by which the right of acquisition, which the.v all asserted, 
should be regulated as between themselves. This principle was 
that discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects, or 
by whose authority, it was made, against all other European 
governments, which title might lie consummated by possession." 

"In the establishment of these relations, the rights of the 
original inhabitants were, in no instance, entirely disregarded; 
but were necessarily, to a considerable extent impaired. Thej 
were admitted to be rightful occupants of the soil, with a legal as 
well as just claim to retain possession of it. and to use it according 
to their own discretion: but their rights to complete sovereignty, 
as independent nations, were necessarily diminished, and their 
power to dispose of the soil at their own will, to whomsoever they 
pleased, was denied by the original fundamental principle that 

discover) gave exclusive title to those who made it." 

"While the different nations of Europe respected the right of 

the natives, as occupants, the.v asserted the ultimate dominion to 



be in themselves; and claimed and exercised, as a consequi 
this ultimate dominion, a power to grant the soil, while 

sion of the natives. These grants have been understood by 
all to convey a title to the grantees, subject only to the Indian 
right of occupancy. 

"The historj of America, from its discovery to the presentday, 
es, we think, the universal recognition of these principles." 
At page 691: "By the treaty which concluded the war of our 
revolution, Great Britain relinquished all claim, nut only to the 
government, but to the 'propriety and territorial rights of the 
i States,' whose boundaries were fixed in the second article. 
By this treaty, the powers of government, and the rit-'ht to soil, 
which had previously been in Greal Britain, passed definitively 
to these state-. We had before taken possession of them, by 
declaring independence; but neither the declaration of indepen- 
dence, nor tl confirming it, could give us more than that 
which we before possessed, or to which Great Britain was before 
entitled. It has never been doubted, that either the United 
or the several states, had a clear title to all the lands 
within the boundary lines described in the treaty, subject only to 
the Indian right of occupancy, and that the exclusive power to 
extinguish that right was vested in that government which might 
i itutionally exercise it." 

And late)-. Miller J. in (1886) Un v. Kagama, ll-\ 

U. S. 375; 30 228, said at p. 2:10: "Following the policy 

of the European (iovernments in the discovery of America towards 
the Indians who were found here, the Colonies before the Revolu- 
tion, and the States and the United States since, have recognized 
in the Indians a possessory right to the soil over which they 
roamed and hunted and established occasional villages. But they 
ed an ultimate title in the land itself, by which the Indian 
Tribes were forbidden to sell or transfer it to other nations or 
- without the consent of this paramount authority. When a 
Tribe wished to dispose of its land or any part of it. or the State 
or the United States wished to purchase it. a treaty with the 
Tribe was the only mode in which this could <■ done. The United 
States recognized no right in private persons, or in other nations, 
ich a purchase by treatj or otherwise. With the 
Indians themselves these relations are equally difficult to define. 
They were, and always have been, regarded as having a semi 
independent position when they preserved their tribal relations; 
not as States, nol as Nations, not a.- possessed of the full attributes 



10 

of sovereignty, but as a separate people, with the power of regu- 
lating their internal and social relations, and thus far not brought 
under the laws of the Union or of the State within whose limits 
resided." 

11. Speaking of the St. 1869, C. 163, which enfranchised the 
Indians in Massachusetts, and removed all disabilities to which 
they had theretofore been subject, the present Chief Jusl 
our Supreme Court, then associate justice, said: 

"Previously, all the common lands had been held and con- 
trolled by the Commonwealth forthebenefil <>\ Indians, who were 
treated as wards of the State. The State recognized only certain 
equitable rights of ownership in the Indians, and it kept their 
property, and exercised a guardianship over them to protect them 
from the consequences of their improvidence." 
(1891) /<> \TAMa 181, 183 

The Indian title did not go to the fee, but only gave to the 
aborigines a right of possession, occupancy or improvement. The 
Indian, according to the Anglo-American common law, was in the 
position of a life-tenant, having the use of his land during his life, 
with the remainder, after his death, .u'oin.u' over to the State, in all 
lands which were held by him in severalty; whereas the land 
bj the Indians in common went to the survivors among other 
Indians, if there were any, and after their extinction to the State. 

( 1837) ( lark v. Willia, 

( is;:;) I , 19 Wall. 591, 

I is:; | ) ( '/icrokce A r ation v. < 1 

(1S23) Johnson v. Mcintosh, 8 Whcaton 541 

I IS89 uthcrn Kan L35* ,S U41 

I 1871 ) Da Squh : 108 Mass. 133 

1 Kent, ( omni 258 I 1 Uh 

Sutherland, 138 (1904). 

Title to Indian Lands in Fall River. 

L5. The deeds which relate to the title of the Indian Reser- 
vation are given in detail immediately following this Brief. 

Reducedtoitssmallestcompass.it appears that one Daniel 

in 1701 to the IYo\ ince of 
Massachusetts Bay, about 160 acres of land which he 
one of the original Proprietors of the Pocasset Purchase. 



11 

This land was thereafter (in 1709) < ■ the Province 

to Benjamin Church in exchange for lands constituting the present 

Indian Reservation, which said Church conveyed to the Province 
of Massachusetts Bay at the same time. This latter com 
of Church stated that the land consisted of 160 acres. Zebedee 
Terry who surveyed it in 1763 found 190 acres, til rods: whereas 
we find actually to-day that it amounts to 195 7-10 acres. 

The habendum clause, or conveying part, of the Church deed 
to the Province is as follows: 

"to have and to hold the said lands & premises herein before 
granted with the members and Appur C " 8 thereof to the sd 
Govern 1 Council] & assembly of the Province aforesd for the 
time being their and Assignes forever so as that the sd 

Land & premises shall from hence forth forever be and Remain at 
the free and absolute dispose of the Govern 1 & General! Assembly 
of the sd Province for the time being as the Govern 1 and Gen 
Assembly may grant or dispose of any other Publique or unappro- 
priated land belonging to & within the sd Province of the .Massa- 
chusetts Bay. But allways to be Continued & used for a plantation 
tlement for the Indian Natives." 

Of course this was to be held for Indian Natives as long as 
there were any of them left: but the Indian Natives have now 
disappeared. 

As to the construction of this Church deed; does it impose a 
condition subsequent, a breach of which would cause a forfe 
or a reversion of the land to the original grantor? Or does it 
simply create a public trust, the object of which having been 
ultimately attained, the doctrine of n fir, may now be applied to 
the subject of the trust? 

The authorities in this Commonwealth establish conclusively 
the proposition that such ad one upon a condition sub- 

tlation of which works forfeiture or reversion. 

In a case where the deed gave the lot of land for a meeting 

"to be built or rebuilt on the said lot of land forever", the 

lot had not been used for a meeting house fur several years. The 

heirs of the original grantors brought a writ of entry to enforce 

feiture or i of the land. 

Bigelow. C. -I. said: 

"There are no apt or proper words to create a condition; there 

is no clause of reentry or forfeiture. The only words which bear 

smblance of an intent to restrict the title conveyed by the 

deed are found in the habendum, These are merely, that the 



12 

grantees, the proprietors of pews, should hold the esti 
the purpose of erecting and maintaining thereon a hou 
public worship. But we know of no authority by which a 

declared to be for a pecial purpose, without other words. 
held to be on a condition. On the contrary it has always been held 
that such a grant docs not convej a conditional estate, unless 
coupled with a clause for the payment of money, or the doing of 
some act by the grantee, on which the Kraut is clearly made to 
depend. Without some such clause, a grant for a specific purpose 
can be held at most only to create a trust, bul not an estate on 
condition" (cases cited i. 

I 18(50) Packard v. Ames, 16 Gray, 327, 32S 

Later it was held that a grant of land to a town "for a bury- 
ing place forever" is not a grant upon condition subsequent. The 

land was sold bj the town to a school district which removed the 
remains of those buried there and applied the land to sichoi 
poses. The same judge said: 

"A deed will not be < ■ ate an estate on condition 

unless the language is used which according to the rules of law, 

ex prop) . imports a condition Conditions are not 

favored in law. If it is doubtful whether a clause in a deed be a 
covenant or condition, courts id' law will always incline against 
I hi' latter construction " 

"In the deed on which the present controversy arises, there 
are. strictly speaking, no words of condition, such as of them- 
selves import the creation of a conditional estate. The usual and 
proper technical words by which such an estate is granted by 
deed are. 'provided' 'so as' or 'on condition' " 

"We belie iritative sanction for the doctrine 

that a deed is in he construed as a granl on a condition subsequent 
solely for the reason that it contains a clause declaring the pur- 
pose for which it is intended the granted | 

such purpose will not enure specially to the bi 
grantor and his assigns, hut is in its nature general and public, 
and where there are no other words indicating an intent that the 
grant is to lie void if the declared purpose is not fulfilled". 
I8(i3) A '■',, so i .. Inhabitants School D 
12;"), 1J7 s 
See also i 1871) Sohicr : . Trinih r. I. 

It is clear, therefore, fr the foregoing authorities that the 

3tat< i freet i mvey the land in question for another public trust; 



13 

the first one having terminated. It will be noticed thai Benjamin 
Church did not make a gift of his land to the Province. H 
the equivalent for it, bygettingthe Wilcox land. The purpose for 
which the deed was made was rather the objecl of the Province: 
it devoted some of its land to aid the Indians. It is well also not to 
lose sighl of the words, in the habendum clause. which provide that, 
"sd Land& premises shall from henceforth forever be and Remain 
at the tv^'r and absolute dispose of the < rovern 1 & Generall Assem- 
bly of the sd Province for the time being as the Govern r & Gen 
Assembly may grant or dispose of any other Publique or unappro- 
priated land belonging to & within the sd Province "'which. 

no doubt were, intended to reserve in the Province, its successors 
or assigns the complete right of disposal, in case the land ceased 
ded for an Indian Plantation or Reservation. 

In 1764, the Province of Massachusetts Ray made a partition 
or allotment of the land described in the Church deed, among 
various members of the tribe to be held in severalty. 

See, Report of John Milton EarU on Indians oj the Commonwealth, 
Senate Document Nt 96, (1861) Ipp I t 81 I.- and plan annexed to 
the pamphlet containing said Sen. Doc. X<>. 'M\. State Ed. 1861. 

And also reprinti 

Mass. Housi Doc. Xo. 215, L862. 

The part which relates to the Fall River Indian colony, in 
Earle's Report, is found at pages 71 to 87 inclusive, in Mass. 
Senate Doc. No. 96 of 1861, as reprinted in pamphlet form. 

15. The Special Report of -I. M. Earle, on the claim of Zurviah 
Gould Mitchell of Abington, Mass., discusses generally the title of 
the Commonwealth, but more particularly the title of the persons 
among whom a division was made in 1764. 

becial Report of J. .'/. Earle, 
on (/aim of '/.. G. Mitchell (1861) post. 

It is difficult to determine whether the Commonwealth, prior 
to 1869, was anything more than a mere trustee for the Indians 
and their descendants. At any rate, it attempted to act for them, 
as previous colonial and provincial governments had done; it 
appointed guardians and granted relief to the occupants of the 
Indian Plantation or Reservation in Fall River, as appears more 
fully by the reports of the State Board of Charities, the special 
report to the legislature of L849, on the Indians in the State, the 
Report of J. M. Earle in 1861 and the reports of the Guardian of 
I River Indians, printed hereafter; and finally by St. L869, 



14 

C. 163, it emancipated the Indians and removed all their dis- 
abilities. 

16. Since it appears that many families of the original 

er the division of 17t>4 have become 
extinct, it would seem that the Commonwealth may have acquired 
title by reversion or escheat to i in question. 

Mass. Rev. A. C/i. 133 ? 1 

and previous statutes cited in margin running back to L692. 

17. It is provided in the Constitution of this Commonwealth 
that "whenever the public exigencies require that the property of 
any individual should be appropriated to public uses, he shall 
receive a reasonable compensation therefor' - . 

. Declaration oj Rights, Art. LO. 

It is provided, in the substitute hill, that due compensation 
shall he made by the City of Fall River to persons aggrieved by 
the taking of the lands in question. 

18. Fall River asks that so far as the State's title extends, it 
shall be transferred to another public corporation to be held by it 
under such limitations, if any. as the Commonwealth now holds 
under. Then the legislature is requested to authorize the city 

e by eminent domain, paying whatever damages are suffered. 
formerly these lands were held in trust by the State for a 
small part of the people occupying them; now the State is asked 
that they shall be held in trust for all the people living in the 
vicinity, so that they may have a water supply whose purity and 
increased capacitj shall be forever preserved from contamination. 

19. In 1869 Governor Clafiin made an earnest recomme 
tion to the legislature to enfranchise the Indians residing in the 
Commonwealth. 

See. Governor Claflin's Inaugural Address in 
Acts 18C9, p. 843. 

The legislature of L869 enacted the Magna Charta of Massa- 
chusetts Indians, in consei ill the following provisions 
which ended a tutelage of 249 years: 
1869, < //. IC 

••An Act t<> enfranchise tin Indi 'lit. 

"Section i. All Indians and people of color, heretofore known 
and called Indians, within this Commonwealth, are hereby made 



L5 

and declared to be citizens of the Commonwealth, and entitled to 
all the rights, privileges and immunities, and s 
duties and liabilities to which citizens of this Commonwealth are 
entitled or subjei 

"Section 2. All lands heretofore known as Indian Ian. Is, and 
rightfully held by any Indian in severalty, and all such lands 
which have been or may be set off to any Indian, shall be and 
become the property of such person and his heirs in fee simple: 
provided, that such lands shall not be held liable to be taken 
upon attachment or execution for anj debl or liability which 
existed before the passage of this act; and all Indians shall here- 
after have the same rights as ether citizens to take, hold; eonvej 
and transmit real estate. 

"Section 3. The judge of probate of the county in which any 
lands held in common belonging to any tribe of Indians may lie, 
except in the case of the Indians of Marshpee and Gay Head, 
upon the application of any member of said tribe, after notice to 
all parties interested and a hearing of the same, if in his opinion 
it is for the interest of said parties that any or all of said lands be 
divided, shall appoint two discreet, disinterested persons commis- 
to make partition of the same, and their award, being con- 
firmed by said court, shall be final in the premises; but if he shall 
adjudge that it is for the interest of said parties that the same, or 
a part of the same, be sold, he shall direct the said commissi- 
after they shall have given such bonds as the court may require, 
to proceed to sell any or all of said lands, and to divide the pro- 
ceeds of the same among' the parties rightfully entitled thereto in 
proportion to their several interests therein, under the direction 
of the said court; and the judge of probate of the county in which 
any lands heretofore and now known as Indian lands, and claimed 
eralty by any Indians, may lie. shall direct the said commis- 
sioners to examine and define the boundaries of the lands right- 
fully held by individual owners, and shall properlj describe and 
le in writing, and such description being approved 
by the court shall be final in the premises; ami the same, together 
with all deeds of partition, division or sale made by such commis- 
sioners shall be recorded in the registry of deeds in the county. 

nissioners, including the cost of 
recording said deeds the same being approved by the judge oJ 
probate, shall be paid out of the treasury of the Commonwealth, 
the same being also approve! governor and council. 



16 

"Said commissioners are authorized to sue for, colled and 

receive all funds belonging to or held in trust for, any ti 
Indians for which said commissioners are appointed: and all such 
funds shall he divided by said commissioners among tin- parties 
rightfully entitled thereto under the direction of the probate 'Mint 
of the county in which such tribe resides; and any property held 
in trust by any person for any tribe of Indians shall he sold by 
such person under the direction of the judge of probate, and the 
proceeds nf such sale shall he paid over, to the commissions 
divided as aforesaid. The judge of probate of Plymouth countj 
shall have jurisdiction over all matters relating to the Herring 
Pond Indians under this section. 

"Any person aggrieved by any order, decree or denial of the 
judKe of probate under this act. shall have the same rigl 
appeal, under the same rules and regulations as provided for in 
chapter one hundred and seventeen of the General Statutes: pro- 
vided, that the attested copies and notices required to he given by 
said chapter shall be served upon such parties as the judge of pro- 
bate shall direct. 

"Section 4. Upon the application of the overseers of the poor, 
of any town, to the board of state charities, said board shall make 
provision in the state almshouses or elsewhere for the suppi 
any persons heretofore known as Indians who may be unable to 
support themselves, and who have not acquired a settlement in 
any town: and upon the application of anj Indian who has hereto- 
fore received aid from the Commonwealth, the said hoard shall 
furnish to such person in the state almshouses or elsewhere 
aid as they may deem expedient. 

"Section 5. The general agenl of the board of state charities 
shall take charge of the house, and all property connected there- 
with, in the town of Webster, belonging i" the Commonv 
and may lease to persons heretofore known as members of the 
Dudley tribe of Indians, upon terms substantially like thosi 
which they have heretofore occupied it; or he shall, under the 
direction of the board of state charities, sell the same al public 
auction, and the proceeds of such leases or sale shall be paid into 
the treasury of the Commonwealth." (Approved June 23, L869.) 

20. Previous to the foregoing statute of 1869, the Indians 
living in Massachusetts were subjeci to many civil disabilities. 
They were unable to buy or sell land or contract liabilities like 

white men. They were in a state of pupil., 



17 

It was stated by Putnam J. that: 

■ "The provisions which have been adopted by the legislature, 
in respect of this improvident race of men, have been dictated by 
a single regard to fheir welfare. The guardian is empowered to 
grant license to such of them as shall by industry, sobriety and 
correct conduct, entitle themselves to the privilege to make con- 
tracts generally, in particular to purchase real estate." 

(1840) Thaxlei v. Grinnell, 2 Mete. 13, 14. 15. 

The effect of the statute of 1869 was such that "it gave every 
Indian a right immediately to have his share of the common lands 
of the tribe set out to him or sold for his benefit." 

Knowlton J. in 

i 1891 i D . 1.M Mass. 181, 1-1 

In the course of the same decision it was said: 
"Having all the rights of a citizen an Indian, under this 
statute, could sell and control, in any way. all his interests in 
property whether legal or equitable, as freely as any one else". 
Ibid. p. I-:; 

Referring to the same subject. Gray -J. said: 

"By the law of Massachusetts, until very recently, the 
Indians were not subject to taxation, nor endowed with the ordi- 
nary civil and political rights of citizens, but were treated as the 
wards of the Commonwealth; the title in the lands occupied by 
their tribes was in the State, and could not be alienated by them 
without the consent of the legislature; and the use and improve- 
ment thereof by the Indians was regulated by the legislature, 
from time to time, at its discretion 

"By recent legislation, the Indians of the Commonwealth 
teen fully enfranchised from the subjection in which they 
had heretofore been kept, and put upon the same footing as other 
citizens: and provision made for the division of their lands among 
them in severalty as their absolute property"; citing St. 1869 C. 
163, and St. 1870. C. C. 213, 293, 350. 

i 1-71 i Darnell v. Webquish, 108 Mass. 133, 134. 

It was held in the same case that the minor children of 
Deborah Danzell and of Marj Perry (the latter living in Fall 
River) not having been born, nor having ever lived upon the lands 
of the Herring Pond tribe of Indians (in Plymouth County) could 
not have a right, under St. 1869, C. 463, to a share in the division 
of the same; although their mother was one of the proprietors of 



1- 

said lands and was bom thereon; but after marriage she went to 
Fall River. 

i L871) Darnell v. Webquish, 108 Mass. 133. 

• 

21. Precedent for the proposed action of the legislature, in 

this instance, is found in the disposal of the Commonwealth's 
in the lands of the Marshpee Indians in favor of the town 
of Marshpee. 

St. L870 ( . 293, &§ 1. 2 

The constitutionality of this statute was attacked but fully 
sustained by the supreme court which held, through Endicott J. 
that, 

"There is no constitutional objeel ion to any of these provisions. 
The tenure by which these lands were held was peculiar. In 
ring the privileges of citizenship upon these wards of the 
Commonwealth and giving a title in fee simple to all lands held by 
them in severalty under existing provisions of law. it was not onlj 
proper hut a wise exercise of power for the legislature to frame 
provisions by which common lands helonging to the town or the 
tribe should he divided. The legislature could impose any reason- 
able qualifications or restrictions upon the privileges and power 
red by the statute, either upon the town or upon the people 
known as the Marshpee tribe of Indians". 

Ils7ti) Darius Coombs et'al, Petrs.. 127 Mass. 278 



HISTORY OF TITLE TO 
KALI. RIVER INDIAN' RESERVATION. 

The lands now comprised within the territorial limits of Fall 
were obtained in two parts; one from the Indians in 1659, 
called the "Freemen's Purchase"; and the other from the Colony 
of New Plymouth, in 1679-80, called the "Pocasset Purchase". 

The Reservation includes the full width of the northerly 
quarter of the Second Share, and the full width of the southerly 
half of the Third Shan of the Freemen's Purchase, and extend- 
from North Watuppa Pond easterly to the Proprietor's Way. or 
"Head of Lots". 

The Freemen's Purchase was deeded by Wamsutta and other 
Indians to .lames Cudworth and other proprietors, April 2, 1659 



L9 

Bk. 1. P. 361, Kail River Cop. Records; same in Bk. :;. 1'. Ilt'-HT 
Bristol Co., No. Dist. Rec. Same in Fenner's Hist. Fall River, 
1906, p i-V 

The Second Shan of the Freemen's Purchase was allotted to 
Humphrey Turner, one of the original proprietors. It descended 
to his son Joseph Turner, who sold it to Israel Hubbard in 1671. 
From him it passed to 1. Hubbard and Jonathan Dodson. History 
of Bristol County. Boston History Company, 18t)!». p. 125. 

Israel "Hubart" and Jonathan Dodson sell to Benjamin Church 
the whole Second Share from Taunton River to Proprietor's Way 
or "Head of Lots*'. Bk. 1. pages 383-6, No. Dist. and Bk. 1, p. 
101, F. R. Cop. Rec. give the deed as follows: 

Deed of 'Hubart" and Dodson to Benj. Church. 

"To all Christian People to whom these presents shall come Israel 
Huberd of the town of Scittuate in the County of Plimouth in the 
Province of the masachuset Bay in New England yeoman and 
Jonathan Dodson of the town & County afores sendeth ("reefing 
Know yee that we the afores Israel Hubard & Jonathan Dodson 
Hath for the Sum of one hundred i'v fifty pounds lawfull Currant 
money in New England by them in hand Received, and well & 
truly payd by Maj r Benjamin Church of Bristol! in the County of 
Bristoll in the Province afores wherewith the said Israel Hubard 
and Jonathan Dodson Doth acknowledge themselves Sufficiently 
Sattisfyed, Contented, & fully & absolutely payd and thereof & of 
every part and percell thereof, They Do exonerate acquit' & fully 
Discharge, the said Benjamin Church his heirs Executors Admin- 
istrators & Assignes forever. Have freely and absolutely < liven 
granted Bargained sold Aliened Enfeoffed & Confirmed And by 
these presents Doe freely Clearely fully & absolutely i 
Bargain Sell Alien Enfeoffe & Continue from them the said Israel 
Hubard it said Jonathan Dodson their heire.- & Assignes 

forever unto him the said Benjamin Church his heires & assignes 
forever A Certaine Tract or percel of uplands Scittuate lyeing & 
being in ffreetown in the County of Bristoll afores' 1 being one Great 
lott (so called and is the second lott from the fall River, being 
Butted and Bounded, towards the south to the lott that was 
somtime Timothy (fosters, lmt partly now in the possession of 
Ralph Earle Jun r and toward the North to the lott y' was (formerly 



20 

Christopher wadsworth, And liuting on the Salt water or River 

that leadeth up to Taunton, on the west and Runing up into tin- 
woods Easterly as far as the other lotts Do extend: to have and to 
hold the afforesaid great lott of upland (be it more or less (Scittuate 
& bounded as aforesd with all & Singuler the timber wood under- 
wood stones Mines Minerals water Courses Herbage grass feed- 
ings Rents profits Heridittaments Immunityes priviledges & appur- 
tenances thereto belonging or in any manner of wayapp 
with the Revertion & Revertions Remainder & Remainders to him 
the said Benjamin ( !hurch his heires executors and Adm rs And to 
the only proper use & usses benefit & behooffs of him the said 
Benjamin Church his 1" itors Administrators & Assignes 

forever. And the said Israel Hubard & the sd Jonathan I 1 
Doth hereby promise Covenat & grant to and with the sd Benjamin 
Church his heires & assignes that at the time of ye sealeing & 
until] the Delivery of these presents, they the said Israel Hubard 
& ye sd Jonathan Dodson are true only lawful! owners of all the 
above given & granted premises and that they are lawfully Seized 
of & in the same in their owne proper Right And thai they have 
in themselves full power, Hood Right, & lawful! authority to give 
grant Sell Convey & assure the same unto him the sd Benjamin 
Church his heires & assignes forever as a good sure perfect & 
absolute estate of Inheritance in Fee Simple without any m 
of Condition or Revertion title of Dower or limmitation of 
whatsoever, so as to alter Chainge Defeat or make voyde the 
And that the said Benjamin Church his heires & assignes shall & 
may by force <6 vertue of these p r sents, from time to time& a1 all 
times Hereafter forever Lawfully Peaceably & quietly have hold 
posess occupie & en.ioy all & Singular the above given & Granted 
premises <& everj pari and percell thereof ffree<B Cleare & Clearelj 
acquitted & fully Discharged of & from all. ami all mann 1 of former 
& other (lifts grants Bargaines Sales Leases Mortgag Joyntures 
Dowers, Entailes, Judgments, execution-, and exstents and of & 
from all other titles troubles Charges & encumbrances whal 
had made ('omitted Omitted or suffered to be Done By them the 
sd Israel Hubard & Jonathan Dodson or hj then- privitie, or pro- 
curement And farther the said Israel Hubard & the sd Jonathan 
Dodson. Doth Covenant & promise to & with the said Benjamin 
( Jhurch his heires <S assignes that at his or their Reasonable i 
and propei- Charges, they the sd Hubart & Dodson will Do such 
farther lawful! act & Acts, thing & things for the farther Con- 
firming & sure making of all the above granted premises, unto the 



21 

said Benjamin Church his heires and assignes for ever, as by his 
or their Councel Learned in the law shall be Reasonably Devized 
red In witness whereof the said Israel Hubart & 
Jonathan Dodson have hereunto sett their hands & affixed their 
Seales this Sixth Day of September one thousand Six hundred 
Ninety four In the Sixth year of the Reigne of o r Sovereigne Lord 
&Lady King will and Queen Mary It is to he understood, before 
ng& sealeing and it is hereby Declared & understood, thai 
the abovesd Israel Hubart & Jonathan Dodson Doth sell one whole 
Share of land, or their whole Right off land in the town of freetown 
Conteined in & belonging to the above said lott unto the sd 
Benjamin Church his heires & assignes forever 
Signed sealed & Delivered 

In the presence of us ISRAEL HUBART (Seale) 

witnesses vizt. 

Simon Davis JONATHAN DODSON (seale) 

J no. Cary 

This 25th Day of february L694-5 appeared ye abovesd Israel 
Hubart and Did own & acknowledge the above written Instrument 
& allso the posession written on the Backside to be his act & Deed 
unto the abovesd major Benjamin Church, so far as said hubart is 
Concerned in said Deed for his part Before me John Cushen 
Justice of peace for the County of Plimouth" 

'This 5th day of march 1694-5 appeared Sarah Hubart, the 
wife of the s d Israel Hubard & Did freely & fully SUrender up all 
her Right of thirds into the land above mentioned In the above 
written Deed unto the aboves maj e Benja Church before me 
John Cushen Justice of Peace for ye County of Plimouth 

"The above Named Jonathan Dodson acknowledged this 
Instrument above written to be his act & Deed & the Posession 
on the Backside at the same time this Ninth Day of march L694-5 
Befor Joseph Church Justice of ye Peace for ye County of Bristoll. 
Memorandum that full and Peacable posession and Seizen was 
given & 1 lelivered by the within Named Israel Hubart & Jonathan 
Dodson of all the lands within mentioned unto the within Named 
Benjamin Church & his heires according to the true Intent & 
meaning of the within written Deed, on the Seventh Daj of 
September Anno Dom.|Sixteen hundred Ninety four in the presence 
of US whose Names are Subscribed. 

the mark of (VO) RALPH EARLE 
JAMES BURROUGHS 
the mark of (2) JOHN ALLEN" 



22 

Lieut. Benjamin Church sells to his son Constant Church the 
Southerly three fourths of the Second Share from Taunton River to 
Proprietor's Way or Head of Lots on April 12, 1707, Bk. 5, P. 214, 
No. Dist.; Bk. 2. Page 67, F. R. Cop. Rec. 



The Third Shan was allotted to Christopher (sometimes 
written Xopher) Wadsworth, one of the original proprietors. 

The whole Third Share-was transferred by John Wadsworth to 
Latham Clarke and John Wilbore. History of Bristol County, 
Boston History Company. 1899, p. 126. 

By Agreement or Division Deed between Latham Clarke and 
John Wilbor, Clarke takes the South Half and Wilbore the North 
Half of the Third Shan. Dec. 5, 1700. Bk. 6, pages 375-376, No. 
Dist.: Bk. 2, p. 248, F. R. Cop. Rec. 

Latham Clarke and Ann, his wife, sell to Maj. Benjamin 
Church the whole South Half of the Third Shan from Taunton 
River to Proprietor's Way or Head of Lots, on Dec. 20, 1700. Bk. 
.".. pages 291-292. No. Dist.: Bk. 1. p. :!:!7. F. R. Cop. Rec. The 
deed reads as follows: 

Deed or Latham Clarke and Wife to Benjamin Church. 

"To all Christian People to whom these p e sents shall Come 
Lathum Clerk & Ann his wife of the town of Newport on Rhoad 
Island in v" Colonj of Rhoad Island & Providence Plantations in y e 
Dominionof New Engld Sendeth Creetingin o e Lord God Everlast- 
ing Know Yee that y e sd Lathum Clark & Ann his wife for Divirs 
good& valuable Considerations them hereunto moveing Butt more 
Especially for<S in Consideration of the sum of One Hundred & 
forty pounds Curr' money of New England to them in hand payd 
before y e Ensealeing hereof, Bj Ma.i 1 ' Benjamin Church of the town 
of Bristol! in the County of Bristol I in the Province of the Massachu- 
sett Bay In y e Teritory or Dominion of New England a foivsd. the 
Receipt whereof the sd Lathum Clarke & and Ann his wile Bj 
p e sents Acknow ledge <£ I herewith fully Sattisfyed Contented 
& payd& thereof <§ Every part \- p''cell thereof Doe fully &Clearely 
\ . - . 1 1 j 1 1 1 ami Discharge the said Majol Benjamin [Church his heires, 
Executors Administrators & Every of them for Ever Have fully 
Clearelj & absolutelj B sold, Enfeoffed & Confirmed, and 

l..\ i hese presents Doe fully clearely X- al>solutely Bargained sell 



23 

Enfeoff e & Continue unto y e sd Majo e Benjamin Church his heires 
& Assignes for Ever The whole halfe share of that ffreemans 
Lott of land in the Township of ffreetown Being- the Third lott in 
Number so Called(\vhich wasGranted Enfeoffed & Confirmed unto 
the sd Lathum Clerke & unto John Wilbore of y° town of Ports- 
mouth on Rhoad Island aforesaid. By John Wadsworth Dec d late 
of Duxbury, and is Now Equally Divided as may at Large appeare 
By an Agreement Muttually made and Consented unto Between 
them (the said Lathum Clarke & John Wilbore) Bearing date the 
fifth day of Decemb Anno Domini One thousand seven Hundred. 
The said halfe lott of land Butted & Bounded Northerly l> the 
Divission line of said John Wilbores part of land of said lott Easterly 
by Lands of Tiverton Southerly by Lands of Majo e Benjamin Church 
Westerly by the River or salt water Which leades up to Taunton 
with all other lands or claime of lands Belonging to y halfe lotte of 
Land Or in any place whatso Ever upon the East side of Taunton 
River. Belonging to the said Lathum Clarke Together with all & 
Singuler the wood trees timber & {fences standing lyeing & Crow- 
ing upon the same or any pail or p e cell thereof and all Rights 
Liberties & Priviledges thereunto belonging or in any appertayne- 
ing. 

To have and to hold the whole the said Halfe share of that 
ffreemans lott of land in the Township of ffreetown Being (the 
third lott in Number so called I Butting and bounding as abovesd 
with all other lands or claime of Lands belonging to y halfe lott of 
land in any part or place whatso Ever upon the East side of Taun- 
ton River belonging to the said Lathum Clarke Clarke with all 
other the premises Liberties priviledges & appurtenances there- 
unto belonging or appertayneing unto Majo e Benjamin Church 
his heires & Assignes To his and their onely proper use Benefit & 
behooffe for Ever & the said Lathum Clarke & Ann his wife for 
themselves their heires Executors & Administ es Doe hereby Cove- 
nant Promise & grant to & with the said Maj e Benjamin Church 
his heirs and Assignes, That at & before the time of the Ensealeing 
hereof they the said Lathum Clarke & Ann his wife or one of 
them were the true and lawful! owners of the above Bargained & 
sold premises & Every part& p e cell thereof and have in themselves 
Just Right Power & Lawfull Authority To uive grant Bargaine 
sellConvey& Assure y e same unto the said Majo e Benjamin Church 
his heirs & Assignes Ass a good perfect and absolute Estate of 
[nheiritance in ffee simple without any manner of Condition. 
Reversion orLimittation whatso Ever So as to Alter ( Ihainge 1 lefeal 



24 

or make voyde the same ffree & cleare& ffreely & Clearely acquitted 
& Discharged, of & from all former & other gifts grants Sales 
Leases Morgages .Jnynt i nvs Dowers or Powers of Thirds of said 
Ann & off & from all other Titles troubles Charges & [in 
vvhatso Ever And (further thai the said Lathum Clarke & Ann his 
wife the said Bargained & sold premises unto the said Maj e Benja- 
min Church his heire. & Assignes against themselves their heires 
Executors & Administrators & Against all & Every other p 
& persons Lawfully Claimeing the same or any pan thereof they 
Shall & will well & truely & Suffeciently wan-ant & for Ever Defend 
by these presents And that at Any time or times hereafter upon 
Demand of the sd Maj e Benjamin Church & at his Cost & Charges 
in the Law they will Doe & perform any such further Act or Acts 
for the better confirmeing & sure makeing the above Bargained & 
sold premises unto him his heires and Assignes as in Law & Equity 
Can be Desired & Required. 

In Witness whereof the said Lathum Clarke and Ann his wife 
Have sett their hands and affixed their seales this Twentieth Day 
of Decemb in the Tvvelveth year of the Reign of his Sacred Majestie 
King William the Third over England &c: AnnoqB Domini one 
thousand Seven Hundred. 

Signed Sealed & Delivered 

[n presence of us LATHUM CLARKE 

Benj a Newberry 

John Scot AXX CLAUKE 

Tho: ffox: 

The above Named Lathum Clarke & Ann Clarke his Now wife 
acknowledged this Instrument above written to be their V 
Deed the Ninth day of January 1700 

.7(1.1 

Before Joseph Church one of his Majesties Justices of the 
Peace for the County of Bristoll." 

In 1679-80 Daniel Wilcox is one of the original grantei 
Pocasset purchase. Fenner's Hist. Fall River, L906 pp. 5-6. 

In March, 1701, Daniel Wilcox petitioned the General Court to 
accept his land and interests in Pocassel Purchase m paymi 

a fine imposed upon him in August. 1693. 

November 27, 1701, Daniel Wilcox conveys to Province of 

Massachusetts Bay, the 1 1 1 h 'Six Score Acre Lot" in Si 



25 

Div. Pocasset Purchase, the - Acre Lot, in Fourth Division 

Pocasset Purchase, and l-30th interest in the Undivided Lands of 
Pocassel Purchase. The deed is recorded in Book :?, pp. ."501-2, No. 
Dist.; Book 1. p. 243, F. !;. ('op- Rec, and reads as follows: 

Deed of Daniel Wilcox to the Province. 

"To all People unto whom these presents shall Come Daniel 
Wilcox of Little Compton in y e County of Bristol! within his 
3 Province of the Masachusetl Bay in New England Yeo- 
man sendeth Greeting Whereas the said Daniel Wilcox being at a 
Superior Court of Judicature Court of Assize & Generall Goal 
Delivery holden at Bristol! in the County of Bristol] aforesaid in 
the month of August Anno Domini 1693 Convicted of High mis- 
demeanors was by the said Court sentenced to pay unto his Maj ties 
a fine of one Hundred & fifty pounds which he hath never ye1 
payd haveing made his Escape out of the Sheiriffs hand sometime 

the said sentance or Judgement was given and thei 
Remove:! out of the Province abovesd. And whereas the said 
Daniel Wilcox being Desireous of a Peaceable Return to his ffamilie 
which was Removed from Little Compton aforesaid to Tiverton in 
the County of Bristol! aforesd Did by a Pittion presented on his 
behalfe by Maj 1 Benjamin Church unto the General 1 Court or 
Assembly sitting at Boston in y e Province abovesd in the month of 
March Last past before the date hereof make a propossall that for 
y e Sattisfaction of the fine ordered to be payd by him as aforesd 
lie would give a firme Deed of sale to the Province as should be 
Directed of the several! Tracts of land hereunder mentioned 
y is to say of an one Hundred & Twenty acre lott being the 
fourteenth in numb 1 and of one forty acre lott being the second 
in Number as appeares on Record in the Purchassers Booke of 
Records in Tiverton and a Thirtyeth part or'a whole share of a 
Tract of land that is undivided belonging to Tiverton Bounded as 
followeth viz Southerly by the lands of Dartmouth west by lands 
of Tiverton & ffreetown & Northerly by lands of Midlebori 
Extending Last to a place Known by the Name of Quitticus And 
hath prayed that upon his the sd wilcox compleating a Deed for 
might be set at Libertie to goe home to his 
ffamilie & Whereas the great and General! Court or Assembly set- 
ting in the sd month of march last in answer to the aforesd 
Pittion Did pass a Resolve that the Prayer therein he Granted and 
Appointed Ebenezer Brentoi aid Maj r Benjamin Church 



26 

&m ' william Pabodie A Committee to lake Care that Sutfecient 
Deeds of Conveyance of the severall p e cells of land above men- 
tioned be made & Executed by the sd Daniel Wilcox. 

"Now these presents witness that the sd Daniel wilcox for & 
in Consideration of the payments & Sattis the above 

mentioned fine of one Hundred and fifty pounds Hath given 
granted Bai I Aliened Enfeoffed Released Conveyed & 

Continue. 1 & by these p r sents Doth fully freely Clearely and 
absolutly give -rant Bargaine sell Alien Enfeoffe Release Convey 
& Confirme unto the Council of his majestyes Province of the 
Massachusett Bay aforesaid on whom the power & Authority of 
the Governour of sd Pro Now Devolved (the Governor & 

Leu- Governor of the same being both Deceased and to the 
Assembly of the sd Province & to their Successers viz 1 the 
ern' & Generall Assembly of the Province aforesaid for the time 
being & their Assignes for Ever The severall percells of land 
herein before mentioned That is to say The aforesd one Hundred 
& Twenty acre lot being the fourteenth in Numb 1 in Ti 
aforesaid and the aforesaid forty acre lot, being the second in 
Number in the sd town of Tiverton Allsoeall that aforesd Thirtieth 
part or whole share of a tract of land that is undivided belonging 
toy 6 sd town of Tiverton and bounded a- before mentioned 
tier with all (V- Singuler the Trees timberwoods under- 
woods waters water Courses stones fields feedings .Marshes 
Meadows Rights menbers profitts priviledges Comodities Advan- 
tages Heridittament Emoluments & appurtenances whatso Ever 
upon or in an elonging to y e severall p-cels of land 

before granted or to any or ! them And all the Estate 

Right Title Interest Inheiritance use propertie possession ' 
X- I >emand « hatso E\ er of him the said I taniel Wilcox and his heires 
of in Or to the same or any part thereof and the Revert ion A- ! 
tions Remainder <S Remainders of the sa ■ and to hold thesd 

severall percells of land. & p r mises herein before granted u 
Councell & Assembly of the Province of the Massachusett Pay 
aforesd and their Successors to witt the Govern- and Generall 
Assembly of the said Province for the time being their Successors 
& \ ignes for Ever, To their use & behoofe so as that the sd 
lands & premises herein before granted Shall from henceforth for 
Ever be & remaine at the i olute Dispose of the Govern 1 

Commander in Cheife & Generall Assembly for the time being of 
the Province aforesaid in such manner as the said Govern 1 or 
Commander in Cheife & Generall Assembly maj grant or Dispose 



27 

of any other lands belonging to & within the said Province of Y 
ihusett Bay or any part thereof And the said Daniel Wilcox 
for himself his heires Exe ee & Adm 68 doth hereby Covenant & 

Agree to & with the Council ibly of y" Province aforesd 

is aforesaid for the time being & their Assignes 

that lie the .said Daniel Wilcox is, at & until the Ensealeing & 
Delivery of these presents the true sole and law full owner of y e 
said Severall percellsof land & premises herein before granted and 
hath in himself full power good Right & lawful! Authority to granl 
■ 'he same in manner as aforesaid and that the 
said Granted premises are free and Cleareand Clearely Acquitted 
& Discharged of & from all & all manner of former & other 
gifts grants Bargaines sales Alinations Mortgages Leases Releases 
Joyntures Dowers Judgements Executions forfeitures seizures 
Ameniaments. Titles troubles, Charges and incumbrances whatso 
Ever And ffurther that he the said Daniel Wilcox his heires 
Executo" & Admin r8 shall & will Warrant & Defend all «6 Singuler 
the said Herein before granted premises unto the Council & 
Assembly of the Province aforesd their Successors as aforesaid for 
the time being & their Assignes for Ever Against the Lawfull 
Claimes & demands of all & Every person & persons whatso Ever 
And at their Request & at their Cost and Charges shall & will at 
any time or times hereafter make seale & Execute any such fur- 
ther Act Instrument or thing for the better Confirmation & Assur- 
ance of the said granted premises according to the true Intent & 
meaneing of these presents as shall be Lawfully or Reasonably 
Divised advised or Required. 

In witness whereof the said Daniel Wilcox hath hereunto setl bis 
hand & seale the Twenty Seventh Da; lb' Anno Domini 

1701. AnnoqB R. Us. Gulielmi Tertii Anglie: &c Decimo tertio: 
Signed sealed & Delivered Signum 

enceofus DANIEL (D WILCOX (Seal) 

Ebenezer B 'enton 
John Mulder 
Benjamin Ellery 

Portsmouth on Rhoad Island Novemb 1 y e 27th 1701: Personally 
appeared the above Named Daniel Wilcox & Acknowledged the 
above written Instrument to be bis A.c1 and Deed & his hand and 
seale thereunto sett. 

Before me JOSEPH SHEFFIELD Assistant" 



28 

On Feb. is. L704, the General Court of Massachusetts Baj 
Province assigns the above mentioned Wilcox land as a Plantation 
0] i^servation for the Indians. 

In Oct.. 1707, the General Courl of Provii sachusetts 

Baj authorized the exchange of the Wilcox land, for land of 
Benjamin Church in Second and Third Shares of Freemen's Pur- 
chase, on the east side of North YVatuppa Pond. {The present 

rvalion, 1907). Referred to in Deed Bk. 5, pages 506-507 No- 
Dist; same in Bk. 2, page L43, 1-'. R. Cop. Rec. 

April 1. 17()'.». the Province of Massachusetts Pay sells to Col. 
Benjamin Church the above described Wilcox land; Bk. 5, paj 

506-507, No. Dist.. and Bk. 2, p. 143. F.R.Cop. Rec. give the d 1 

as follows: 

Deed of Province of Massachusetts Bay to Benj. Church. 

"ye seal of ye Joseph Dudley K q in Oheifein 

Province of ye 

Masachuset & over Her Maj es Province of the Massachusett 
Bay in 

N. E. Bay in New England in America Toall towhom these 

presents shall come Greeting Whereas the Greal and Gei ■ 
Courl of her Majesties Province of the Masachuset Pay in New 
England at their Session held at Boston the eightenth of ffeb r5 1704 
upon application to them, In-fore made by the Indians Resideingin 
the Southern parts of the County of Bristol Divers of whome have 
been very serviceable to ye Crown in the Late warrs with the 
Indians, and some of them brought up in Englesh ffamalies: viz 
That a Conveinient Tract of land maj be I to them for a 

Plantation where they may settle together in an Orderly way and 
have tlic benefil of enjoying the Ministrj & settlein ool for 

the teecthing X- Instructing of the Children And there being a 
Tract of land within the Township of Tiverton latelj Granted b 

ernment by Daniel Wilcox. Resolved and Ordered that the sd 
Indians he Accomidated with a settlemt for a Plantation upon the 
aforesaid Lands to be holden bj them of his Majestii ment 

with in this Pro\ ince Dureing the pleasure of the ( rovernment Ami 
Ebenezer Brenton Esq 1 Mat 1 Benj fl Church & m 1 William ir<>: 
are appointed to be the first Committee to Direcl I Irder and Regu- 
late the said settlement or Plantation in Assigneing and setting 
forth Due allottments or proportions of land to each tl'amil; 
the Indians that shall or may come to lnhahitt or settle within the 
aid Plantation To be severallj Occupied & Improved and to do all 



29 

thing Relateing to the Concerns of the said Plantation two of the 
sil. Committee to Act And whereas upon further Application made 
by the said Indians the said Great and General Court at their 
Sessions in October L707 upon the Report of their Committee Did 
Allow of a propossal made for ye exchaingeing some of the sd lands 
with Co " Benjamin Church for land of his Lyeing more Comodious 
for the India Settlements & more Remote from the English And 
Directed that proper and Legal! Instruments be Drawn accordingly 
the lands to be holden of her Majesties Government of this her 
Majesties Province bj the said Indians and their heires forever 
Yielding unto the Govern 1 of the sd Province for ye time being 
upon the tenth day of December yearly One quarter of Good 
on in Lieu of all Rents and services not to be assigned or 
Alienated but Continued an Indian Plantation forever as in and by 
the Courts several Records Relation being thereto had will more 
fully appear Know yee therefore that wee the Gov r Councill and 
Assembly of the Province afore 8 Agreeable to the afore Rented 
last vote And pursuant to the powers and Authorityes Contained 
and Granted in and by her Majesties Royal! Charter for and in 
on of the lands conveyed & Received on the afore 
mentioned Exchainge by I >ecd from Coll Benj a Church bearing 
even date with these presents Have given Granted Released and 
Confirmed And by these presents Do fully and absolutely give granl 
Release and Confirme unto the sd Colonel Benjamin Church his heirs 
and assigns forever The two several Tracts and Allottments of land 
hereafter Mentioned being scittuate in the township of Tiverton 
in the County of Bristoll within the Province aforesaid Granted by 
Daniel Wilcox late of Little Compton within the said County of 
Bristol yeoman Deceased to ye Govermt in sattisfaction of a fine 
by Deed bearing- date the Twenty seventh day of November One 
thousand seven Hundred & One of Record in ye aforesd Count) 
That is to say One lott being the fourteenth in Number Containing 
One Hundred and Twenty acres and one other lott being the 
second in Number Containing forty acres as appears on Record 
in the Purchassers Book of Records in Tiverton afores Together 
with all & singuler the trees timber woods underwoods Right mem- 
bers profits priviledges Heridittaments EmollumentsAccomodat ions 
& Appur 68 to them and each of them belonging or in any wise 
Appertaining To have and to hold the said two severall Lotts of 
land with the members & profits priviledges Heridittaments and 
Appurtenances thereto belonging to the sd Benj a Church his heires 
and assignes to his and their onely proper use benefil & behoof 



30 

forever as his and their own free absolute and proper Estate of 
Inherritance in ffee simple without any manner of Rent service 
Dues dutyes or demandes by them or any of them to be yielded 
Rendered or given In Testimony & Confirmation whereof the 
Publicke seal of the said Province of the Massachusett May is 
in set and affixed Dated at Boston the fourth day of April! 
' year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lads Queen 
Anne I Srittain &c 

.1 DUDLEY 
This Instrument passed by order of the Gov 1 Council! & Assembly 

ISAAC ADDINGTON, Secretary 

April 1. 1709, Benjamin Church (in exchange for the Wilcox 
land described in last deed) conveys to the P •■ Massachu- 

setts Bay the full width of the northerly Quarter of the 

and the full width of the South Half of the Third Shan 
Freemen's Purchase, from North Watuppa Pond easterly to 
Proprietor's Way or Head of Lots. Bk. 5, pages 188-489, No. 
Dist; Bk. 2, p. 110-111. F. R. Cop. Rec. The deed reads as 
follows: 

Deed of Eenj. Church to Province for Indians. 

"To all People to whom these p r sents shall come Benjamin 
Church of Tiverton within the County of Bristol in her Majesties 
Province of the Massachu :1 Bay in New England in America 
sendeth Greeting whereas upon a proposall made to the Croat and 
general Court or Assembly of the s Province in favour of ye Indian 
Natives Resideing in ye southern parts of the s County of Br is toll, 
Divers of whom have been very s >rviceable in the present & former 
Wars and some of them brought up in English families, for ex- 
changing some of the lands formerly granted to ye Goverm Bj 
Daniel Wilcox Yeoman since dec , Lyeing in Tiverton, and Allowed 
to the Indians for a settlein' and Plantations, with the s Coll° 
Church for land of his lyeing more Commodious for the Indians 
settlem & more Remote from the English. The General! Assembly 
at their Session in October 17n7 upon the Reporl of their Com- 
mittee appointed to View the S d lands did Allow of the said pro- 
posall and exchainge & Direi rid Legal! Instru- 

be drawn accordingly the land m in Exchai 

be holden of her Majesties ( iovernmeiit of j e s Province by the s 
Indians & their heires forever Yeilding to the Govern 1 of the s 
Province for the time being upon ye tenth day of December Yearlj 



31 

One quarter of good venison in Lieu of all Rents & services 

or Allienated but Continue:! an Indian Plantation for- 
ever as in and the said Courts Records Relation thereunto being 
had, may more fully appear. Now Know yee that I the s' Benj a 
Church pursuant to the afore Recited vote and (ov & in Considera- 
tion of tin- proposed exchainge viz . two lotts of land heretofore of 
Daniel wilcox lyeingin Tiverton within the said County of Bristol, 
by him Transffered to the Govern & by them now passed & made 
over to me by Deed bearing even date with these presents One lot No 
14 Containing six score acres and the other number 2 Containing 
forty acres. Have given granted Bargained sold Released enfeoffed 
and confirmed and by these presents for me & my heirs Do freely 
fully and absolutely give grant Release Convey and Confirm unto 
Joseph Dudley Esq 1 Present Govei n 1 of the Province of the Massa- 
ehuset Hay afores the Councill & Assembly of the said Province 
and to their successors and Assignes forever Part of the said 
Benj a Church his second & Third Great lotts of land being the 
easterly pari ing scittuate in ffreetown within the County 

of Bristoll afores Measureing One Mile and a Quarter in Length 
& sixty four Rods in width Containing One hundred & sixty Acres 
Butted and bounded northerly on the land of John Willbore East- 
erly upon Tiverton undivided lands Southerly on the land of 
Constant Church and westerly on the great watupa Ponds or how- 
ever other wise the same is Bounded or Reputed to be bounded 
Together with all and singuler the Trees timber woods underwoods 
waters water Courses Stones fields feedings Marshes Meadows 
Rights members Profits PriviledgesComodityes advantages Heredi- 
taments emoluments & Appur ces what soever upon or in any wise 
belonging to the sail I several of land herein before granted or to 
any or either of them And all the estate Right Title Interest 
Inheiritance use property possession Claime and demand of me 
the sd Benj a Church of in & to the same & the Reverstion & 

tions Remainder and Remainders thereof To have and to 
hold the said lands & premises herein before granted with the 
members and Appur cea thereof to the sd Govern r Councill & 
assembly of the Province aforesd for the time being their succes- 

d Assignes forever so as that the sd Land & premises shall 
from hence forth forever be and Remain at the ['rw and absolute 
he Govern 1 & Generall Assembly of thesd Province for 
the time being as the Govern r and Gen" Assembly may grant or 
dispose <>f any other Publique or unapprop] iatted land belonging to 
& within the sd Province of the Massachuset Bay, But allways 



32 

ed for a plantation & settlement for the 
Indian Natives And I the said Ben j a Church for me my 
executors & Adm 1 Do Covenant Grant and Agree to & with the sd 
embly for the time being their successors 
& Assignes to warrant and defend the said land & premises with 
the members anil appurtenances thereof unto them against the 
Lawfull Claime and Demand of all and every i 
whomsoever In Wittness whereof I the said Benjamin Church 
t1 my hand and sea) the fourth day of April 1709 
In the eighth year of the Reign of our Sovereign Lady Queen 
Anne. 

Signed sealed and Deli BENJA CHURCH(Si 

In the presence of us 
Benjamin Dyer 
Thomas Maccarty 

"Suffolkss -Boston Aprill ye 1th 1709 The within named Benj a 
Church p'Vonally appearing before me ye subscriber One of her 
MajestiesJustices.il' the Peace Acknowledged the within and 
above written lustrum 1 to be his Act and Deed 

ISAAC ADDINTON." 



HISTORY 

OF 

FALL RIVER INDIAN RESERVATION. 

Outside of the public records, a few implements and utensils, 
a few family traditions, very little has come down to us directly 
from the Indian i i on the eastern shore of North 

Watuppa Pond, in that part of Fall River now called Indian Town. 
In order, therefore, to reconstitute the life of tl ent we 

must have recourse to public documents and to hooks of local or 
general history. These sources of information have been resorted 
to. and the result is given here. The records tell us that in L764-5 
ere 59 Indians in Freetown which included Fall River then. 
As there were no other Indian settlements in Freetown. mentioned 
in local histories, we infer that these 59 Indians resided at Indian 
Town. Fall River, where land was set off to them. 
Mass. Census, 1SG0, / 
Ecu I ' n I nd ia n.s, i - II) 

In L849, a full report on the Indians of the Commonwealth 
was made to the legislature by Francis W.Bird, Whiting Griswold 
and Cyrus Weeks appointed for the purpose, in ISIS; and they 
say in thai report, (House Document No. 46 of 1849), that the 
number of the Fall River Indians is :!7. 

In 1861, -1. M. Earle found 78 Indians belonging to the tribe. 
(Earle's Reporl on Indians, S mat" Doc. No. 96 of 1861, p. 77) . 
The last report of Benjamin F. Winslow, who was the guardian of 
the Fall River Indians, appointed by the state, from ISIS to lSti'.i 
(under the Resolve of April 16,1836,)(! Documents 

No. 16 of L849) does not state the number under his char. 
good account is given of the Fall River Indians by John Milton 
in 1361, as follows: 

"The ball River Indians. were not originally a 

distinct tribe or community, and the word tribe as applied to them 

is used simply as a mattei designate the 

idants of th dlj Indians, who served the whites in 

the com pair. n James Church [an Indian serving under 

Col. Benjamin Church] in the war against King Philip 

They are descendants of the tribe of the Wampanoags, and 



35 

are distinct from the remaining Indians of the region thereabout 
(who had a common origin with them) only by the fact oi 
possession of the plantation, and. in ice thereof, being 

placed under guardianship by the government of the State." 
'ted /'. 82. 
The territory of Fall River was included in the Plymouth 
: and it is interesting to note that the native Indians who 
inhabited this part of the country, in 1620, when the Pilgrims 
landed at Plymouth, belonged to the warlike and once powerful 
Algonquin race, the most numerous of all the Indian nations in 
North America. Its dominions extended north, as fai 
Hay: south, as far as the Carolinas; they were bounded on the 
east by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the west by the Mississippi 
river and Lake Winipeg. (Parkman, Hist. Consp. Pontiac, p.25). 
They greeted Jacques Cartier at Quebec, welcomed the Pil- 
grims at Plymouth, and clasped hands with William Penn at 
Kensington in Pennsylvania. Their ancestors, no doubt, witnessed 

si1 of the Northmen, or the Welsh, in Vinland, about A. l».. 
1000, nearly live centuries before Christopher Columbus discovered 
America. (Anderson d by Columbus, Chicago 

1874; Bowen, lm by i/i, Welsh, 1876; Miller, King 

Philip and Wampanoags, 2nd. ed. 1885, Prov., pp. 1 t i 10; 1 Winsor, 

\m.. pp. 64-5; 2 Bancroft, Hist. U. S., p. 99; 7th ed., Boston, 
1840; Munro, Hist. Bristol, p. 17 et seq., Prov. 1880). 

The forefathers of the Fall River Indians, no doubt, were the 
authors of the pictographic inscriptions on Dighton Rock, and on 
that other rock lying near Mount Hope, probably to commemorate 
the event of some great conflict among hostile Indian tribes. And 
the "Skeleton in Armor", found in Fall River in 1882. in a sand 
bank at the junction of Fifth and Hartwell Streets, and sung by 

ellow, must have been one of their great chieftains whose 
memorable deeds are carved in the almost inscrutable picture 
writings on the historic locks now washed by the fresh waters of 

>n river, and the salt waters of Narragansett Bay. Miller, 

Philip and Wampanoags, 6, 7. 8; Fowler, Hist. Fall Ri 
Fenner, Fall River. 2~>: 1 Winsor, Hist. Am., p. 104, note 4; 
1 Schoolcraft. Indian tribes in U. S., pp. 284, 112: (i Schoolcraft. 
Ind. Tribes, pp. 113^114. It was customary for Indians to record 
great events by chiselling into some solid rock symbolistic signs; 
and the Old Colony Historical Society of Taunton, among other 
Indian relics, has the headstone of an Indian which shows his 
conversion to Christianity by having an arrow pointing to a cross. 



The first knowledge we 1. ■ Indians in this section, 

(in the accounts of later travellers), is from Verrazano, a Floren- 
ot, who was sent out by Francis 1st of France, in 1524. in 
command of the ship "Dolphin" or "Dauphin". (Miller, op. cit. 
p. 1; Fenner, Hist. Fall River, L). The Indian houses or wig- 
wams are described by him thus: "We saw their houses, made in 
circular form, ten or twelve paces in compass, covered with mats 
of straw, wrought cunningly together. They live long and are 
seldom sick, and if they chance to fall sick at any time, they Ileal 
themselves with tire, without any physician, and they say they 
die tor very age". (Miller, p. 4.) This seems to agree with 
later accounts of Roger Williams. Schoolcraft and others. 

Previous to the arrival of the white settlers in New England, 
tli" Indians had been greatly reduced in number, in consequence 
of into. mflicts, among the vario but more particu- 

larly on account of a great epidemic or pestilence which occurred, 

the arrival of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, about thi 
L616 or 1617. (Miller. King Philip and Wampanoags, p. 12: 
Peirce, Indian Hist., p. 2; Ellisand .Morris, King Philip War, p. 17: 
Munro, Hist. Bristol and Alt. Hope p. 27. i 

The same Algonquin race was divided into several tribes, such 
as the Pequots ami Mohegans, residing in Connecticut: the 
Narragansetts on the western shores of Narragansett Bay, includ- 
ing Providence; and the Wampanoags who included the l'okanokets 
living on the eastern shore of Narragansett Hay. including War- 
Swansea, .Mass.. Mount Hope and Bristol, R. 1.: and the 
Seaconnets, Pocassets and other tribes living in the southern part 
of Massachusetts as far south as tin- Atlantic Ocean at Sea- 
connel Seaconnet, which is in the town of Little Compton, R. I., 
was then under the jurisdiction of Plymouth colons. The tribes 
of the Wampanoags, (excep Pokanokets) were under the 

immediate jurisdiction of sub-chiefs or local rulers, called sachems: 
for instance, the Seaconnets, under the squaw-sachem Awashonks 
residing al Seaconnet, in Little Compton, R, I., and the Pocasset 
Indians inhabiting what is now Tiverton and the present city of 
Fall River. The territory of Tiverton and Little Compton was 
then a part of Plymouth Colony, as h stated. (Peirce, 

Indian History, 6, 7; Dexb trch Hist. King Philip 

War. Pref.p.6.) The Fall River conti Indians was some- 

Hist. Fall River, p. !•".. note), 

e most of them lived with that tribe, called after the name 

of Pocasset, which was the geographical Indian name for the 



37 



territory including what is now Fall River, Mas... and hverton, 
R I (Fowler, Hist. Fall River, 7), The squaw-sachem oi the 
Pocassets, Weetamoe, was the wife of Wamsutta, sonof Ma 

brother of King Philip. She owed soi a leg.anee 

to Massasoit, the Great Sachem, or the supreme head of the 
Wampanoags, who lived at Sowams, (now Warren, R. L), as tn< 
immediate sovereign of the Pokanokets. The latter had thi 
settlements, one at Warren, the other at Mounl Hope, and a third 
at Kiekenu.it Spring, (now Swansea), along the river of that 
name. (Peirce, Ind. Hist., 9, 37; Fowler's Hist. Fall River, 5, 6,7, 
Fessenden, Hist. Warren, (1845) p. 13). _ 

,,, the Fall River Indians were Pocassets. their geogra- 
phic name; they were Wampanoags from their political, and 
klgonquins from their racial connections. 

sed by the white men to dispose of his lands the red man 
did Sl lily, without foreseeing the consequences to his race 

of the advance of the pale faces. It meant inevitable friction 
which culminate! into the armed conflict known in history as King 
Philip's War. covering 1675-76. At that time the white population 
of Plymouth colony "contained not much less than seven thou- 
sand"; that of Massachusetts proper was"more than twenty-two 
thousands". The Indians numbered about 50,000, in New 

England; -.Massachusetts with Plymouth had not _more 

than twelve thousand" (2 Bancroft, Hist, of U. S., 93-4; tth 
Boston 1840). It wasestimated that the Pocassets, i by members 
of which tribe the Fall River Indian Reservation was settled) 
"were so numerous that her armed men, able to go ou1 upon the 
war path, were suppose! to number three hundred" (Peirce. Ind. 
Hist p ii, "As the forests were cleared, and the settlements 
increased, the wild game on which the Indian largely relied tor 
his subsi , scarce, while the more valuable of the fish- 

ing resorts were monopolized by the English" (Miller, K. Land 
Wampanoags. 33; see also 2 Ran,,,,,. Hist. US 99). King 
Philip (also called Metacomet), the second son oi Massasoit, at 
his brother Wamsutta's death, became chief sachem ol the \\ 
nanoagsand the immediate sachem of the Pokanokets; and had 
his seat with the Pokanoke, tribe, at Mount Hop- He refused to 
embrace the Christian religion and was averse to the preachm 
missionaries. Ho told Roger Williams that he did not- care more 
forhisl , tnthe hut. on on his cat; E. & M. King Philip 

War "l I. was supposed bj tiversion oi 

an Indian was only another metho ' mto the 



white man's tribe. This, no doubt, wasanother ostility 

stirred up in the in-cast of the red man. (Id. 24. 

"It is difficult, for the civilized man and the sa 

to understand her. \s a rule the one does not know what 

the other is thinking about": John Fiske, Beginnings of New 
England, p. 236, (Bo 

• Referring to John Eliot's work he says: "His design in 
founding his villages of Christian Indians was in the highest 
benevolent and t the heathen Ind [hardly 

be expected to see anything in it but a cunning scheme for 
destroying them. Eliot's converts were for the most part from 
the .Massachusetts tribe, the smallest, and weal.. 11. The 

Plymouth converts came chiefly from the tribe next in weakness. 
the Pokanokets or Wampanoags. The more powerful t 
ansetts, Nipmucks and Mohegans - furnished ver 
converts. When they saw the white intruders gathering me 
of the weaker tribes into villages of English type, and teaching 
them strange gods, while clothing them in strange garments, they 
probably supposed that the palef; 

Indians into their whiti , means of increasing the military 

strength". Fiskc, Beg. A". /■/./>. 237. 

A similar view is expressed by another authority: 

"When v. so-called 'deeds' by which the 

English colonist., obtained from the sachems wide spaces of terri- 
tory on the consideration of a few tools, hatchets, kettles or yards 
ii, we naturally regard the tran i imply illustrating 

the white man's rapacity and cunning in tricking the simplicity of 

ire that in manj such cases the 
Indian secured what was to him a full equivalent for that with 
which he parted. For, as the whites soon learned by experience. 
the savages supposed that in such transactions they were not 
alienating the absolute ownership of their lands, i . enant- 

ing for the right of joii icy with the English. And then 

the coveted tools or implements obtained by them repre 
a value and a \\>v not n by any reach of wild territory. 

A metal kettle, a spear, a kn transformed the whole 

life of a savage. A bla for him a whole wardrobe. When 

he came to bi or of firearms, having regarded himself 

the equal of the white man. he at once became his superior". 
G. I:. Ellis, in 1 Winsor, Hist, of Ann r, 

"It would seem as if the native tribes, when Europeans first 
secureda lodgment, were beguiled by a fancy which in most eases 



39 

was very rudely dispelled. This fancy was that the new comers 
might abide here without displacing them. The natives in giving 
deeds of lands, as has been said, had apparently no idea that they 
had made an absolute surrender of territory, They seem to have 
imagined that something like a joint occupancy was possible, each 
iif the parties being at liberty to follow his own ways and in1 
without molesting the other. So the Indians did not move off toa 
distance, but frequented their old haunts, hoping to derive 
advantage from the neighborhood of the white man. King Philip 
in 1675 discussed and acutely denned the utter impracticability of 
any such joint occupancy. He indicated the rootof theimpi 
ruin of his own race, and he found a justification of the conspiracy 
which lie instigated in pointing to the white man's clearings and 
fences, and to the impossibility of joining planting and hunting, 
and domestic cattle with wild game". Bl/is in 1 Winsor, Hist. 
An,., pfi 296 7. 

Washington Irving, in his Sketch Rook, has devoted an inter- 
esting chapter to a study of the Indian character: and another to 
Metacomet, the grand sachem of the Wampanoags, to whom the 
Fall River Indians owed allegiance, above their immediate sub- 
chief of the Pocassets. Undei "Philip of Pokam 
he says: 'He was a patriot attached to his native soil a prince 
true to his subjects, and indignant of their wrongs a soldier. 
daring in battle, firm in adversity, patient of fatigue, of hunger, 
iry variety of bodily suffering, and ready to perish in the 
cause he had espoused. Proud of heart, and with an untamable 
natural liberty, he preferred to enjoy it among the boasts 
of the forests or the dismal and famished recesses of swamps and 
morasses, rather than bow his haughty spirit to submission, and 
live dependent and despised in the ease and luxury of the settle- 
ments. With heroic qualities and bold achievements that would 
raced a civilized warrior, and have rendered him the theme 
poet and the historian, he lived a wanderer and a fugitive 
in his native land, and went down, like a lonely bark foundering 
amid darkness and tempest, without a pitving eye to weep his fall 
or a friendly hand to record his 

The subject of King Philip's war is summed by Bancroft, as 
follows, after showing the weakness of the Indian as compared 
with the white man: 

'The individii.il. growing giddy in danger, rushes as it were, 
towards his fate; so did the Indians of New England. Frenzy 
■prompted their rising. It was but the storm in which the ancient 



to 



inhabitants oi the land were to vanish away. They rose without 
hope, and. therefore, they fought without mercy. For them as a 
nation, there was no to-morrow". 2 Bancroft, Hisl US p ltd 
rhe fate of the red man. in these parts. ,„,w thai he lives 
only m memory, is surrounded with a halo of romance and po< 
whu-h can scarcely lie dispelled. 

. " In Nerval of peace, and in some favored recesses 

where game abounded and the changing seasons brought p 
festival plays, and scenes of jollity, there were even fascinations 
to delight one of simple tastes, who could enjoy the aspects of 
nature share the easy tramp over the mossy trails, content him- 
self with the viands of the wilderness, employ the long hours f 
azmess in easy handiwork, delight in basking beneath the soft 
hazes of the Indian summer, or listening- to the traditional | ] 
the winter wigwam". Ellis, in 1 Winsor, m M 092 

Now that the vo e stilled there is an 

almost universal longing for Indian folk-lore. x„ one can solve a 
great many problems of sociology without pointing hack to 
primitive conditions of man on this continent. V man 

be said to have contributed his share to the gr> ty of 

menta attributes and human experience. Very frxv writers have 
en him due credit for his qualities, whereas his vices hi 

The theme is a vast one. and has 
andpoints. Fertimore Cooper in his 
" Th e Lasl of the Mohicans" (the Mohicans or 
Moheganswere race, and spoke the same language, 

as the Fall River Indians) says: •'Few men exh.hu greater diver- 
sity, or, | we may so express it, gp 

than the native warrior of North America. In war he is dar 
boastful, cunning-, ruthless, self-denying-, and self-devoted- in 
Peac' i, hospitable, revengeful, superstitious, mod 

and commonly chaste. These are qualities, it is true, which do 
not distinguish all alike; buttheyare so far the predominating 

remarkable] pie as haracteristic It is 

hal the aborigines of the American continent 
have an Asial tc origin. There are many physical, as well as moral 
tacts which corroborate this opinion, and some feu- that would 
seem to weigh against it." 

A-nother riew of the Fall Fixer Indians is given thus- 
'There remains today verj little to recall the red man 5a 
e Particular spot, such as on Mount Ih on the opposite 



II 

-hurt' from Fall River, where nature seems to have carved in the 
solid rock a place which is still called the chair of the famous 

chieftain, King Philip. A few Indian names have ' n adopted 

by the mills, given t<> streets or clubs, I he memorj of 

the untutored child of the woods has vanished like the mists before 
the sunshine from the present busy generation of men. We can- 
not dismiss him from our recollections, however, without thinking 
trange destiny which awaited him tv ago. How 

bewildered he must have been when the first pale face saw him in 
his pristine glory. He was then the monarch of the forest, the 
proud possessor of boundless acres, the only explorer of the lakes 
and streams. He lies now in unmarked ami . with- 

out an epitaph to tell id' his valor, and without a record of his deeds 
except that which his foes have seen tit to preserve. Yet how 
often every student of social science recurs to the subject of primi- 
tive man to solve the intricate problems of our complex civilization. 
Peace to your ashes, wild child of nature! While you trod the 
thorny path of life you were favored 1 y the grandest sights given 
to man to behold; every law of nature was a deep mystery to you, 
yet. in t>\vry wind that blew and every ray of sunlight which 
brightened your wig-warn, you saw the majesty and power id' the 
Omnipotent; you bore striking' testimony to the existence of the 
living God, and offered the strongest instinctive proof of the 
immortality of the soul. This alone should make the recollection 
of your race. immortal and embalm i1 forever in the memory of 
every believer in the divinity of the Creator of the world." 
Dubuque, Art Work of Fall River, or, ! : <ill River Illustrated, ( 
L897, p. II. 

Parkman referring to the subject says: "The Indian is a true 
child of the forest and the desert. The waste- and solitud 
nature are his congenial home. His haughty mind is imbued with 
the spirit of the wilderness, and the light of civilization falls on 
him with a blighting power. His unruly pride and untamed free- 
re in harmony with the lonely mountains, cataracts and 
rivers among which he dwells: and primitive America with her 
savage scenery and savage men. open.- to the imaginatio i a bound- 
less world, unmatched in wild sublimity In an 
Indian community each man is his own master. He abhors 

restraint, and own.-, t ther authority than his own capricious 

will; and yet this wild notion of liberty is not inconsistent with 

certain gradation of rank and influence " A sachem 

mself in opposition to the popular will which is the sovereign 



12 

power of these savage democracies." Parkman, Hist. Pontiac, 
1,2,3, Boston, L863. < Yet, notwithstanding these generalizations, 
the influence of good Massasoit, the head chief of the Wampai 
and the kind friend of the whites, succeeded in keeping his various 
tribes from troubling the Pilgrim settlements for some forty-one 
years, and in having them observe strictly the treaty of amity and 
peace which he had made with the governor of the Plymouth 
Colony, -"(.n after the landing of the Pilgrims. 

Speaking of the effed of the contact of the white race with 
the red men. .John Fiske says: 

"There can, moreover, be little doubt thai the material com- 
fort of the Indians was for a time considerably improved by their 
dealings with white men. Hitherto their want of foresight and 
ihi'it'i had been wont to involve them, during the long winters, in 
a dreadful struggle with famine. Now the settlers were ready to 
pay liberally for the skin of every fur-covered animal the red men 
could catch 

'"The Algonquin tribes of New England lived chiefly by hunt- 
ing, but partly by agriculture. They raised beans and corn, and 
succotash was a dish which they contributed to the white man's 

table. They could now raise English Better 

blankets and better knives were brought within their reach; and 
in spite of all the colonial governments could do to pre\ en1 it. they 
were to some extent enabled to supply themselves with muskets 
and rum." fohn Fiske, Beginnings oj A'< ., England, p. 228. 

The unavoidable clash between the white and the red men was 
anticipated from many symptoms of unrest on the part of the 
latter. The race id' the red men was run; the builders of an 
empire, in the form of a future great republic, were advancing 
steadily, and taking possession of the new world, overcoming all 
obstacles. But the misgivings of the English colonist were soon 
realized, although some of his leaders may have been mistaken as 
to the cause of his troubles. 

Brooks Adams says: 

"So early as 1671, the movements of the Indians began to 
give anxiety; and in L675 Philip's war broke out. which brought 
the colony to the brink of ruin, and in which the clergy saw the 
judgmenl of (led against the Comn for tenderness 

inward the Quakers." 

Adam-. Emancipation of Massachusetts, pp. llni-T i Boston, 
1887 i citing . Magnalia, bk. ■">. pt. 1. 



13 

It was undoubtedly one of the lessons of history well brought 

out by De Tocqueville that the conquered race, being infenor.was 

slow progress towards civilization. Whereas when 

ectuallj inferior.as when barbarian 

tie, the conqueror receives more readily the 

benefits of the superior advancemenl oft! 

nutate. 2 Democratic en Amerique, p. 288 (-** £*. 

1835) 
\l„„,i the year L628 the Indians, who heretofore had only 

I h„ws and arrows, in hunting or in war. were taught to use 
firearms Bradford, Hist. Plymouth, p. 283. (Sfa* Ed Bo 1898) 

"Hitherto ye Indians in these parts had no peeces nor other 
amies but their bowes and arrowes. dot for many years alter, 
nether durst they scare handle a gune, so much w< re they attraid 
of them; and ye very sighl of one (though out of kilter) was a 
terrour unto them". (Id. i 

But afterwards they became expert marksmen; speaking ot a 

colonist he says: 

'•And having thus instructed them, he employed them to 
hunte and Eowle for him, so as they became far more active in I ha1 
employment than any of ye English by reason of their swiftness 
of t'oote and nimblenes of body, being also quicksighted, and by 
continual! exercise well knowing ye hants of all sorts ot game. 
So as when they saw ye execution that a peece would doe. and ye 

efite thai mighl te I- ye same, they became madd, as it 

were after them, and would not stick to give any prise thej could 
attaine too for them; accounting their bowes ^ arrowes but 
Babies in an of them." Bradford, Hist., Plym . pp. 286 r. 

The King Philip war with its attendant evils and destruction 
took place in 1675-76, between the whites and the Indians, in part 
over the territory of Fall River and vicinity, and it ended bj 
death of King Philip, the last sachem of the Wampanoags.whowas 
killed near Mount Hope, on Augusl 12th, 1676. (Peirce, Indian 

History, p. 155). In the cour E thai war it became necessary. 

if not indispensable, to have a contingenl of Indian soldi 
These were naturally found among "praying Indians" that is, 
those who had become Christians, or were friendly to the white... 
While Weetamoe, the sachem of the Pocassets, who ruled over 
the Fall River Indians, cast her lol against the colonists, and went 
..,.,„ her brother-in-law, and liege lord, Kiev. Philip, yel many 
of | c ts, including her third husband, Petonanuit, called 

"Ben" bj the English, remained true and loyal to the la1 



11 

(Peirce, Ind. Hist. 145). Ii was out of this band of friendly Ii 
that the Fall River Indian settlement was formed. They had 
followed Colonel Benjamin church in the war against King Philip, 
and in colonial wars with the Indians and the Pre 

they were considered as being entitled to some recognition for 
their services and sacrifices. The tribes were thenceforward 
mostly disorganized. Awashonks, of the Seaconnets, was the 
onlj uiic left of 11 south .if Freetown; and it was diffi- 

cult I'm- the Indians to reorganize! i dements, unless 

they were in relatively close proximity to the white settlers, as 
they had lost about all; every family had suffered, no doubt, the 
loss or t he wounding of some of its members. 

In 1676 Benjamin Church of Little Compton received a com- 
mission from the Plymouth Colony "to raise a company of volun- 
teers of about 20(1 men, English and Indians; the English not 

exceeding 60 to discover, pursue, fight, surprise, 

or subdue our Indian enemies." (Dexter's B. Church 
Hist, pp. 30, 31, 54-5). 

In the same year we find the following vote of the Plymouth 
Colony: Ordered that "Captain Benjamin Church having; for 
and in behalfe of the Collonie, engaged to feurall Indians; about 
live or six; That incase they did carry well they should abide in 
this jurisdiction; and not fold to any fforaigne p r tes; accordingly 
this Court doth confeirme the said engagement and doth herebj 
tollerate theire ftay as aforesfaid; notwithstanding any law • 
Collonie to the contrary; except if any of them should appear to 
have had a hand in any horred murder of anj of the English, 
p' ticularly excepting one < !roffman; whoe is accufed to have had a 
fpeciall hand in the crewel! murder of Mr. Hezekiah Willett" 
(Dexter .Memoir to B. Church Hist. p. 22; Plym. Col. Rec ,Vol. LI, 
p. 242). 

January L6th, L677, ('apt. Church received another commis- 
sion from the Plymouth government to go ou1 on an expedition 
with "divers parties of Indian.-". (Dexter's Mem., sup., p. 22.) 
March 6th, L677, the Plymouth Court grant to eight of 

< hiiivli's Indian soldiers to set i le at S< e Supplying them 

with land, on condition that they hold themselves in readiness for 
service under him: "hee fatisfying the Indians, to have the whole 
inch an adventure". (Id. and 5 Plym. Col. Rec, p. 
225.) 

The valuable assistance of the Indians to the Massachusetts 
ettlers cannol begainsaid. It was well stated that. "In 



15 

war they exhibited unexampled bravery. Very few [ndians have 
ever been known to be cowards. Friendly and Christian Indians 
probably saved New England colonies from extermination in the 

time of King Philip's war."' (Rev. N. W. Jones, No. 1. Indian 

Bulletin for 1867, N. Y.. pp. 7. 8.) "There were no less than 

. illages of praying Indians who had long been instructed by 

the venerable Kli.it within the hounds of the colony of Massachu- 

These were faithful to the English during the war. Had 

-ined Philip, the New England colonies would, in all human 

probability, have been exterminated." (Id. p. 12.) 

The great Massachusetts Christian apostle to the Indians was 
John Eliot, who in 1661 translated into the dialect of Massachu- 
setts [ndians the new. and two years later the Old, Testament. 
(Dearborn, Sketch of Apostle Eliot, Roxbury 1850, p. IT.) 

Sassamon was one of his converts, (Miller, K. P.& Wam- 
panoags. 2nd ed., 62). He was an Indian educated at Harvard, a 
former secretary of King Philip. He was assassinated by three 
Indians in Middleboro on account of his alleged treachery to King 
Philip's cause. His murderers were tried and executed for this 
ciime. He taught his own countrymen at Middleboro. and very- 
likely his fellow Wampanoags of Fall River also received his 
instructions. 

Fall River Indians must have heard also John Eliot himself. 
who on occasions visited Plymouth colony (Dearborn, Eliot, sup. 
p. lot: hut '"he had most to do with those who lived westerly and 
northerly from Boston and Roxhury; Massasoit and his tribe at 
the south being provided for by the Mayhews on Martha's Vine- 
yard and neighboring islands: by Mr. Cotton of Plymouth and by 
Roger Williams of Rhode Island." I Furber, Apostle Eliot. Boston. 
1896, p. 5. ) 

Other Christian missionaries preached to the Indians in these 
parts, for we find an account that, in June. 1698, Rev. Grindal 
Bauson of Mendon, and Rev. Samuel Danforth of Taunton, 
"Preachers to the Indians in their own tongue", visited Little 
Compton, R. I., and they had to go through Fall River to do so. 
(Dexter's Church Hist., p. 2~>. note 185). 

The first historian of Fall Riser, the Rev. Orin Fowler, writ- 
ing in L841, says that in 1717 the first minister, Rev. Silas Brett, 
was settled in Freetown, and that he received contributions from 

a "Missionary Society in England by reason of which he was 

to preach to a small tribe of Indians, the remains of the Pocassel 
Watuppa pond." Fowler, Ili.-t. Fall River, p. 12. 



16 

He adds in a note: "This tribe had a small meeting house and 

lilding, easl of the North Watuppa pond; 

which stood till within a dozen years: and there is a tract of aboul 

300 acres of land there still belonging to the tribe. (Id. I It is 

evident that Mr. Fowler had not searched the records. If he had 

bund that tin' Benjamin Church tlvv>\ of L709 

states only 160 acres, whereas surveyor Terry in 17b:; found L90 

(Earle's Rep. 1861, app., p. i.xxxi. while the present city 

engineer of Fall River. Philip I). Borden, finds L95 7-10 acn 

Some of the praying Indians were at times given minor offices, 
such as constables and justices of the peace, with jurisdiction 
heir own people. And they were highly pleased with these 
commissions. "The following warrant directed to an Indian con- 
stable was issued by one of these native magistrates. For 'sen- 
tentious brevity' it is in striking contrast with our modern writ: 

'I llihoudi. you Peter Waterman. Jeremj Wicket, quick you 
take him. fast you hold him. straight you bring him before me. 
Hihoudi'." (Miller, King Philip and Wampanoags, 2nd ed. , p. 61.) 

The following account explains how the treaty was made with 
Awashonks, sachem of the Seaconnets; it is reported bj Col. 
Church himself. See Ben j. Church Hist. K. P. W.. Dexter's Ed., 
pp. 30 and following: 

"Upon their arrival, they were immediately conducted to a 
fhelter, open on one fide, whither Awafhonks and her chiefs foon 
came & paid their Refpects: And the Multitudes gave fhouts as 
made the heavens to ring. It being now about Sun-fetting, or 
near the dusk of the Evening; The Netops [friendly Indians] came 
running from all quarters loaden with the tops of dry Pines. & the 
like combustible matter making a huge pile thereof, near Mr. 
Churches fhelter. on the open fide thereof: but by this time 
Supper was brought in, in three difhes, viz. a curious young Bafs, 
in one difh, Eels & Flat-fifh in a fecond, and Shell-fish in a third. 
but neither Bread nor Salt lobe feen at Table. Put bj that time 
Supper was over, the mighty pile of Pine Knots and Tops. &c. was 
fired, and all the Indians .ureal and fmall gathered in a ring round 
it. Awafhonks with the oldefl of her People Men and Women 
mix'd, kneeling down made the firft ring next th< I all the 

lufty, ftoul Ab-n ftanding up made the next; and then all the 
Rabble in a confufed Crew furrounded on the out-fide. Then the 

chief ('aptam ftep'd in between the rings and the tire, with a 

Spear in one hand and an Hatchet in the other, danced round the 

ilie and began to fight with it, making mention of all the feveral 



Nations >\- Companies of Indians in the Country that were Enemies 
in the Englifh; & at naming of every particular Tribe of Indians. 
id draw out & fight a new fire brand, & at his finifhing his 
fight with each particular fire-brand, would bow to him and thank 
him; and when he had named all the feveral Nations and Tribes, 
and fought them all he stuck down his Spear and Hatchet, and 
came out; and another ftept in and acted <<\ er I he fame dance, with 
more fury, if poffible, than the firft; and when about halt' a dozen 
of their chiefs had thus acted their parts, The Captain of the 
Guard ftept up to Mr. Church and told him, They were making 
>rs for him. and what they had been doing was all one Swear- 
ing of them, and having in that manner ihgaged all the lufty 
ftout men. Awafhonks & her chiefs came to Mi'. Church; and 
told him. That now they were all ingaged to fight for the Englifh, 
and he might call forth all. or any of them at any time as he faw 
occafion to fight the Enemy; and prefented him with a very fine 
Firelock." 

The Indian custom as to enlistment is given in Schoolcraft; 
Indian Tribes of U. S.. Vol. 2, pp. 59, 60: "The principle of 

enliftment is fufficiently well preferved Each warrior that 

rifes and joins the war-dance, thereby becomes a volunteer for 
the trip. He arms and equips himfelf; he provides his own 
fuftenance: and when he fteps out into the ring, and dances, he 
chants his own fong, and is greeted with redoubling yells. Thefe 
onies are tantamount to 'enliftment,' and no young man who 
thus comes forward can honorably withdraw." 

It is easier to understand, now. how the Pall River Indians. 
who had stood by the whites in their struggles against red men. 
came to be rewarded by the setting off of land to them by the 
government as soon as the opportunity presented itself to do so. 
It will he remembered that the union of Plymouth Colony to the 
Massachusetts Bay Colony took place in l<>91-2. (Mass. Ancient 
Charters, p. 18; Barry, Hist. Mass.. I't. 1, pp. 515-6). 

The first Indian plantation was on Daniel Wilcox's lands: that 
is about 120 acres in the direction of the presenl Stafford Road, or 
some twelve hundred and fifty feet south of the present Notre 
Dame Cemetery, immediately beyond the present Rhode Island 
line. This land was the 1 1th lot in the 2nd division of the Pocas- 
set purchase which wa rods in width; it was hounded 

north by the presenl Rhode Island boundary line, south by the 
15th lot of Pocasset purchase, east by South Watuppa Pond, and 
west by the present Rhode Island Avenue; hut the Reservation 



48 

included also another - tract, namely, the 2d lot of 40 acres in the 
Ith Division of Pocasset purchase; it was located a few miles 
farther north, on the east side of North Watuppa Pond, about 
opposite where the present Fall River Water Works Pumping 
Station is situated. And there was some undivide 1 land, a part of 
the Pocasset purchase in which Wilcox was interested. 

It seems that this Daniel Wilcox, who could understand the 
Indian language, (Dexter's Benj Church Hist., 22-3) had, about 
li'iSfi, bought some lands from the Indians, contrary to law, which 
required the consent of the colony. The latter either sold it to 
Thomas Hinkley or sent him to take possession of the land at Sea- 
connet. and he met with "tumultuous opposition" from Wilcox 
who gave him such a hot reception that shortly thereafter he was 
convicted and fined one hundred and fiftj pounds. Wilcox thoughl 
it prudent to remove to Rhode Island, which he did and all efforts 
to extradite him were unavailing, as the Rhode Island authorities 
thought Wilcox was right. 

Even the British Commissioner Bellomont, in 1699, made com- 
plaint about the occurrence. (Dexter, Benj. Church Hist. 21-2. 
note 1771 but Wilcox only came back on practically his own terms. 
He offered to convey to the Province of Massachusetts Bay, which 
had in the meantime received its new charter, his interest in the 
lands of the Pocasset purchase. 

The following petition of Benjamin Church explains the offer 
of Daniel Wilcox to the Province and its acceptance: 
Mass. Archives. 
Vol. tO, p. tlf.it. 

To the Hon' e the Lieu Gov r Council and house of Repre 
tives for the Province of the Massachusetts Pay now Conven'd in 
Generall Assembly in Post on 

The petition of Benjamin Church of Bristol! in the Countj of 
Rristoll in behalf and att the Request of Daniel Wilcocks formerly 
of Tiverton now resideing att Rhoad -Island. 

Humbly sheweth 

That Whereas the s Wilcocks was formerly fined by sentance of 
Courl the summe of One hundred and fifty pounds to his Maj tie 
iV- hath neglected and refused to pay the same till povertj and old 
come on him & his family, and his wife being now mad and 
distracted, w'Miath occasioned yo 1 Petition 1 to p r sent the said 
Wilcocks proposal! to this high and lion 1 ' '' Court, for satisfaction 



19 

of saiil title in ord 1 to liis peaceable i o his Family at1 

Tiverton. Which is This viz 1 That if the said Wilcocks doe Give 
a firme deed of Sale to the Province as yo r hon ra shall dired of 
the severall Tracts of Land hereund 1 menconed That is to say, 
as One hundred and twenty acre Lott being \ " fourteenth in Num- 
ber, and one Forty acre lott being y" second in Number as appears 
on Record in the purchasers Booke of record in Tiverton, and a 
Thirtyeth part or whole share of a tract of land that is undii ided 
belonging to Tiverton, hounded as followeth viz Southerly by the 
Lands of Dartmouth, West b j Lands of tiverton & ffree towne, 
and northerly by Lands of Middleborrough extending east to a 
place knowne by the name of Qitticus. That then upon com- 
pleateing y e said Deed according to Direction the sd Wilcocks may 
be sett att Liberty to goe home to his Distrested ffamily. 
And yo' Petitio 1 as in duty bound shall pray &c 

Mar: 11 !: ' L700 Read. -In the House of Representatives. iy. 
Resolved That the Prayer of the above written Petition beGrant- 
ed. AndT'h Esq* Ma.j r Benj a Church, and M'" 

William Peabody. he a Committee to Take Care That Sufticient 
Deeds of Conveyance of the severall Parcells of Land above men- 
tioned, be made and Executed by s Daniel Wilcoks, according as 
the Govern 1 and Council! shall Direct. 

JOHN LEVERETT Speaker/. 

Sent up for ( loncurrence 

.In i louncil 

March. L3 tb 1700/1 

Lead and Pas't a Concurra 

•IS A ADDINGTON Sen,. 

The deed of this land is given, ante, in the History of Title to 
Indian Reservation. 

In 17(H this land was assigned, by a resolve of the Province 
of Massachusetts Bay, as an Indian Plantation or Reservation, as 
appears in the deed of the Province to Benjamin Church. (See, 
History of Title, ante). But inasmuch as the Wilcox land was in 
several parts, the Indians petitioned to have it exchanged for a 
single tract, SO that they could all dwell together, and he farther 
away from the English. Consequently they presented the follow- 
ing petition: 



50 

.Mass. Archives 
Vol. 31, pp. L5and 16 
To His Excelencj Joseph Dudley Ks>| r 
To the Honerable Gentelmen of Hur Maj. tts 
Council and house of Representitiues in the 
erall ( !or1 Assembleed. 

The pertition of we the subcrib. 1 Humblely sheweth that 
whereas there was formerlj Granted and ordered to be Layd oul 
I'oi- our settelment seauerall smale allottments of Land leying in 
Teuerton formerly belonging to Daniel Wilcox of s. Teuertonl viz' ) 
one six score aker Lott one twenty fiue Aker Lott and one forty 
Aker LiOtt with one whole .-hear or thirtyeth part of a trackt of 
undeuided land all which smale parcells Leys a Considerable Dis- 
tance one from a nother. that we Can by noe menes Line upon itt. 
to make any improuement to Answer, the End prepossed; that is 
to Jnjoy the publick worship of Almity God nor for to keep a 
scoale to haue our Childerren taught in the winter time, therefore 
we Humbly pray that sume sutible persons may be appinted and 
impoured to Exchange or. sell the six sc >v<- Aker loti and twenty 
five Aker. lott for Lands Joying the forty Aker Loti \\ l when the 
whole will Joyn upon the undeuided Lands whih will make itt 
proper, for. the End that itt was intended for. And w< 
Humble and pore pertitiners shall Euer pray as in Duty Bound. 
Teuerton Se^ y e 28^, JAMES CHURCH 

day 1 706: - - ) 
.In the House of Representatives Jngen his Mark. 

Nov: L6: 1706. Read. 

NEBEE MANCHEST.R 
his Mark. 
JAMES wILLCOX. 

his mark. 
JOHN BURGES 

his Mark. 
SAMUELL CHURCH 
JOBE DAUID 

his mark. 
MOSES QUEAQUFN 

his mark — 
JOHN COCKAWAY 
his mark 

THO.s sESSENE 

s.\M QUEAQUIN 

his mark 



51 

Jn the House, of Representatives. Nov 1 16: 17<h1. Read & 
Ordered That Nathaniel Paine & Benj. a Church Esq/ 8 Capl Seth 
Arnold, & M r Will'" Fobes or any threeofthem be a Committee to 
make Jnqviry, whether, there is any Land, to be had ii 
for the Land mentioned in this Petition that will be more accomoda- 
te for the sel I lement of the Indians, and if they can find such to 
Report their Doings to this Court, the charge of the Committee in 
performing this service to be paid by the Petitioners 
Sent up for Concurrence. 

THOMAS OAKES Speak 1 ' 
Nov' in 1 ' L706. Jn. Council. 

Rea i. and Concurr'd, with the Amendment above, agreed 

JSa ADDINGTON Secry. 

We find the following vote in Vol. l!». Council Records, p. 141, 
and in - Acts and Resol. Prov. Mass. Bay, p. 341: 

"January 26, 174!". In the House of Representatives. Voted 
that Mr. John Winslow, Samuel White, Esq., and Stephen Chase 
be the guardians over the Indians that are proprietors of lands 
within the town of Freetown and that said guardians he fully 
empowered to take care of said lands ami suffer no person to cut 
off any timber on said lands unless it be by their consent. And 
that the produce of their said lands or what their timber may sell 
for. be improved for the support of said Indian- as thej may stand 
in need thereof, the said guardians to rendei mt of their 

edings to this court, once in two years, during' the contin- 
in said trust. " In Council read and concurred. Consented 
to by the Lieut. -Go\ ." 

The committee appointed to view the lands for the purpo 
making an exchange reported as follows: 

Mass. Archives, 
Vol. 31, p. C>. 

.vember V' 1707./. 

We whose names are hereunto S I appointed by the 

and General Assembly at the Requesl of tin- Pocassetl 
Indians and others, who formerlj had a grant of lands lying near 
Tiverton, to be a Committee to View the said Lands, and other 
Lands which they desired to have in Exchange for the same and 
to make our Report thereof. Have accordingly be< he Said 

Indians to view the Said Lands and do find that the Lands the 



52 

Jndians desire to have in Exchange for their Lands belongs to 
Col° Benjamin Church and is much the same sorl of Land with 
theirs, but the reasons they are desirous to have.it, is because it 
lies all together, joins to Common Lands, and is more remote from 
the English, which they earnestly pray thej maj have a Grai 
to them, their Heirs and Assigns for ever. 

XATIL PAINE 
BENJA- CHURCH 
22 d Nov' 17(17. WILLIAM kOBES 

•In ( Jouncil 
Read and Allowed That an Exchange lie made of the Lands as 
above proposed, And thai proper and Legal Instrumenl 
accordingly, The Lands to be holden of Her Maj y ! Governm. of 
this Her Maj yB Province, by the s. -Indians and theeir heires for 
ever; yielding unto the Governo 1 of the said Province forthetime 
being upon the Tenth day of December yearly, One Quarter of 
good Venison -in lieu of all Lents and Services, not to he assign'd 
or alienated, hut continued an Indian Plantation for evi 

.IS A ADDINGTON - 

Sent down for concur; i 

In the House of Representatives. 

\o\' '24 17(i7 Read cV: Concurr'd. 

JOHN BURRILL Speak'' 

The selectmen of Dartmouth who had a case of an Indian 
invalid on their hands tiled the following petition: 

Mass. Archives. 
Vol. 33, p. L95. 

Prouince of | To His Excelencj the Governor the Hon the 

thee Massachus 8 Counell & House of Represantives in Gen , 
Hay 1 Court Assam!.'. Keh' y . 1: L762 

The Pertition of the Select Men of Dartmouth, Humbly 
Shi v eth that Rachel Pismi [ndion woman hath Bin maintained by 
Sd Town of Dar""". for the Space of aboul months, by 

the Reason of a tit of Sickness which hes Left her helpless as toy'' 
Use of her Limbs, so that we are Oblig to give nine shillings a 
week for her Supporte besides her Doctors Hill & Clothing all 
which is a grate Charge to S Town: wee beg Leve further to 
[nforme your Excelency & Hon. that there is a Large Quantety of 
Land in the Town. ship of Tiuerton that Now is annext to Free- 
town that is a propreated to the Use of the [pdions which is under 



53 

no Impouement.so as to afford any Relef to her Destres 
dition: Wherefore we humbly pray, that yr Excel Hon 1 • 

would grant Leaue that Some pari of S tndon Land may be Sold 
for her Support, or other ways grant such Relef as you in Your 
grate Wisdom Shall think lit 

As in Duty Bound, Ever pray. 

HUMPHRY SMITH I Se 
EZEKEL CORNELL I of Dartmouth 

Jn the House of Rep ve ' Feb*, if. L762 

Reade and Ordered that James Williams and Thomas IVLorej 
Esq ra be a Comm to make sale of so much of the land above men- 
tioned as will amount to a Sum not exceeding thirty five pounds 
and that the produce thereof he applied for defreying the < !h 
arising to said Town of Dartmouth by the .Indian Woman above- 
named And that they render an account of their proceedings to 
this Court. 

Sent up for concurrence 

JAMES OTIS Speaker 
In Council Feb. 17. 17i>2. Read and Nonconcurred. And itappear- 
ing that on tin- L3 March L700, the Government agreed to accepl 
certain Tracts of Land in Tiverton in discharge of a debt of 
£150 due from one Daniel Wilcox: and that on the 3i Feb. 1701. 
the Government Ordered That the Indians in the County of 
Bristol "he accomodated with a Settlement for a Plantation 
upon the aforesaid Lands to he holden by them of his Majestys 
government within the Province during the pleasure of this 
'i.e. eminent"- ordered That Will" 1 Brattle <6 Tho 8 Flucker 
Esq" with Such as the hon ' House shall join be a Committee to 
inquire whether there has been any disposition or Settlement 
made of said Lands by the Governmen since the s a 2(5 Feb. 1701 
And that thej cause search to be made in the public or County 
records as to the quantity and situation of said Lands and their 
,t Value, and report 

Sent down for Concurrence 

A OLIVER Se< 

.In the House of Rep vea Feb y 17 1762 

Lead and Concur'd and Maj' Pond Mai' 
Morey and M' Hewin and Joyned in the 
Affair 

JAMES OTIS Speaker 



54 

The committee reported upon it. It will be noticed that in 
their report they fail to notice thai the Daniel Wilcox land had 
been exchanged, in the meantime (in L709). Here follows the 
report : 

Mass. Archives 

Vol. 33, p. 202. 

"The Committee on the petition of 1 hi louth 

r La 

setting forth that a large tract of land in the township of Tiver- 
town thai is now anne-.i to Freetown that is appropriated to the 
use of the Indians pray"""' that some pari of s d Indian lands might 
lie -old for the supporl of one Rachel Pismi an Indian woman in 
necessituous circumstances have considered the same l>eK leave to 
reporl thereon. -That on the 27 th of Novem 1 " 1701 Daniel Wilcox 
for a valuable consideration by his deed of that date accompanying 
this report did give granl & convey several tracts & parcel]- of 
land in s l deed mentioned unto the Governour & General Assembly 
of this Province for the time bein.tr which deed includes the lands 
prayed for: that the same was recorded in the records of Deeds 
(or bhe County of Bristol the third hook page 301 & thereby the 
Province became seised of the same in fee simple That on | 
of February 1701 I?] upon application made by the Indians resid- 
ing in the Southern parts of the County of Bristol "diverse of 
whom wore servicable to His Majesty in the three late wars with 
the Indians) praying that a Convenient tract of land may be 
assigned them for a plantation where they may settle together in 
an orderly manner. \- have the benefit of enjoying the ministry & 

a scl I for the teaching & instructing of their Children it was 

ordered 

That the s Indians be accomadated with a settlement for a 
plantation upon the aforesaid land- fen by them of Hh 

tys Government within this / ring /lie pi 

Government and that a Committee he appointed by the Court from 
time to time to direct order & regulate the said settlement or 
plantation in assigninj ts of land to 

each family of Indians that shall or may come to inhabit or 
within the -aid plantation to he by them severally occupied & 
improved & to do all things else relating to the concerns of s 
plantation whether any thing further was done your Committee 
cannot tell '.'| hut supposing there had been a settlement as was 
proposed it is most evident to your Committee thai the Indians 
never had the Ice of the lands aforesaid or any part id' them hut 



55 

would have been only tenants at will that the same excepting 

what thru mistake was granted by the General Court i now remain 
to the Province as an estate in fee simple & that they ought 

iport of any Indians whatsoever your ( lommittee 
beg leave further to report that in y' opinion the Province in 

valuable there that it is necessary that a Committee be 
appointed to go upon the spott view the premises run the lines & 
make report to this Court of the Quantity & quality of s lands that 
so such further measures may be taken touching the same, as the 
wisdom of the Court shall then direct 

W. BRATTLE by order" 

"In Council 24 April L762. Read and Accepted and Ordered 

That William Brattle Esqr with Such as the hon. 6 House shall join 
be a Committee to repair to the Lands mentioned, run the Lit i 
make report to this Court of the quantity and quality of said Lands 
"Sent down for Concurrance 

A OLIVER Sec 

"In the I I'M Rep Lea April 24 L762 

Read and Concurd and Co ° Clap and Ma.j' Pond are Joyned in the 
Affair 

JAMES OTIS Speaker" 

In 1763 the Fall River Indians signed a petition to divide the 
lands of their Reservation in severalty, which was accordingly 
done the following year. Here are the official records on this 
pel ii ion: 

.Journal of the House of Repre i 
1762-1763, p. 198. 

"Martis, 25 Die Januarii, A. I). L763. 



"Thomas Flucker, Esq; brough.1 down the Petition of Isaac 
Church, and others, Indians. Soldiers in the former wars. 

Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council January _?•">. 1763. 

Read and Ordered, Thai this Petition be committed to the 
Committee of this Court appointed in April last, to inquire into 
the Curcumstances of the granl made by the General Court of the 
lands within mentioned, and Report. 

I down for concurrence. Read and concurr'd. " 



56 

Journal of the House of Representatives, 
L762-1762, p. 201. 

"Jovis, 3 Die Februarii A. D. L763. 

"John Hill. Esq; bro'1 down the Reporl of a Commitee of 
both Houses, appointed in April last, to view the Province lands 
in Tiverton and Freetown. 

Pass'd in Council, viz. In Council February 1. 1763. 

Read and accepted. 

Sent down for Concurrence. Read and concur'd. 

As also the Reporl of the same I whom was 

referr'd the Consideration of Isaac Church, and others. 

1'ass'd in Council, viz. In Council February 1. L763. 

Read and accepted, and Ordered, that William Brattle, Esq; 
with such as the honourable House shall join, he a Commit' 
the purposes in the said Reporl mentioned. 

Sent down for t incurrence. 

Read and concur'd. and Col. Clap, and Col. < rilbert, are joined 
;u t he affair." 



Journal of the House of Representatives, 
1762-1763, p. 270. 

Veneris, 3 Die Februarii, A. D. 1764. 

Benjamin Lincoln. Esq; brought down the Report of a Com- 
of both Houses relative to the Indians at Freetown, with a 
Vote of < Jouncil thereon, viz. 

In Council February •".. 1764. Read and accepted. 

Sent down for < loncurrence. 
Resolved, That the Lands aforementioned, he and hereby are 
comfirmed to the several Persons agreeable to the Reporl of said 
( 'ommii tee. 

Sent up for Concurrence. " 



Court Records. Vol. 25, pp. 181 & i- 

"Wednesday ' 
Februarj 1. 17t;i i 

"The following Reporl was made by the Committee appointed 
the purpose therein mentioned viz 



Committee to whom was referred the Petition of the In- 
dians, Heirs and Descendants of I Jap 1 -lames Church and Company, 
iccording to the directions of this Court, repaired to the 
Town of Fre< taken a Plan of their 

lands, and subdivided the same into lots according to the original 
Grant and - I the Bounds of the same, and 

assigned to the several Indians the Lots that do respectively 
belong to them a< ledule and Plan hereto annexed. 

BRATTLE by Order 
incil Read and A.i hat the Lands be 

confirmed to the on the annexed Schedule. 

In the House of Represent; d and recommitted to make 

the proposed Amendtm 

In i ed" 



■ Records 

"Friday 
irj 3. 1764 

Indian Lands at Freetown. 
ii the first Instant having pre- 
sented a Plan of inds, and a Schedule of the Lots, and 
to whom thi . the following Order passed 
thereon viz : 

In Council Read and Accepted: And Ordered That the Lands 
aforementioned b> ifirmed to the several per- 

agreeable I aid Commil 

In the Hoi, itives Read and Concurred 

sented to by the Governor" 

The surveyor who made a partition of the lands of the Fall 
River Indian Reser at ion, and a plan of the same. 

Hoc. 96, 1861, App. C. p. Ixxx) was Zebedee Terry. 

lie town clerk o n, from 1767 t" 

ITT J ■ iwn, p. 137). He made the following 

Vol. :::;. p. 274. 

"I the S Committee of j 

Court to Renew y° Pounds Survaj S a Plan 'I 



58 

\.n- of land which I. make by Survay to be L90 Acres & 64 Rods, 
Granted Bj Gi n Court to Cap' James Church & Company Ind. 
and have Subdivid.d y e same into Twenty Eight Equeal Parts and 
Erected Sutable Bounds al y e Corners of each Divisional] Part or 
luit Fore of S. parts is laved Out in one Lott at y" North:West 
Corner nexl toy 6 Pond for y e Hears or legual Representatives of 
Cap' .lames Church likewise marked on y e Plan each lott y" place 
of >' House thai stands There:on on those Lotts where there is 
any & y e Names of y e Indians that leivs in them and have set 
forth on each of \" Lotts w ha1 [n] are made & by whom 

made and how long they have inprooved them Each of y'' afores 
eaqual Parts Contains 6 Acres & L28 lexis 

The Boundries of this afores'' Land is as followeth Bounding 
WestNorth:West upon Wattuppa Ponds & Southwardly on y e land 
that y e Boouths now Owns Begining al \ ' Middle of a Flat Rock 
which is yf Edgof S. Pond South:West from a large White:Oak 
Tree Between S d Rock & another Rock Near to S d White:Oak and 
Northwardly of S' 1 Tree Extending E S E. 2 Degrees S. 104 Rods 

a Stump with a Stake by it 
by a Range of .Marked Trees to ■ an Old Anchent Pound mark 
with a heap of Stones about y e Same and likewise from thence 60 
Rods To a gray Oak Tree full mark & soon by a Range of marked 
Trees lis Rods unto a Ridged Hill To an old White Oak Tree full 
mark and from S White:Oak 69 Rods to a Stake with a large 
heap of Stones about y e same which is y° South:East I 
Bound of y e afores. Land Which maketh the South Line from y e 
Pond to this Head Pound to be 381 Rods and from S d Southeast 
Comer Hound giving y e Point of Compass on y? Head of S. Land 
Which appeal's to be on \ ' Head Line of the Freemans Purches of 
y e Town. "ship of Freewn North 30 Degrees E. 71 Rods & about 
12 feel To a Small gray :Oak Tree marked on Three sides with a 
large heap of Stones about y e Sam which isy 8 North :East Corner 
Bound of j •" aboves Land Which maketh S Land to be 77 Rods 
wide and from S d North:Eas1 Corner Pound Riming WNW. 2 
Degrees N Bj a Range of marked Trees to S d Watuppa Pond To 
b:Black:Oak:Tree full mark which Stands by \ " Edg of S d 

Pond with a heap of St s about y e Same which fully appears to 

be y? North:Wes< Corner Bound of y e Land abovesaid 
1. Humbly Submit My Self as in Duty Pound 

ZEBEDEE TERRY" 



59 

PARTITION OF L764. 

Here is the allotment, as officially approved: 

Mass. Archives 
Vol. 33 pp. 269 to 273 

"A Schedule of the Lotts of the Indians Land and to whom they 
Severally Belong Lying in Freetown in the County of Bristoll 

The First Lott Containing Twenty Seven Acres and thirty two 
Rods Belongs to the heirs & Legal Representatives of Capt n James 
Church win. died April! L739 Leaving two Sons James & Isaaceand 
five Daughters Mary, Experience Marcy, Mary and Phebe— 
Marj is Alive having one Child, a Daughter Named Experience 
who has five Children — 
Marcy is alive having two children 
Mary the Second is alive & No Children — 
Phebe is alive & has Eight Child 

James is Dead Leaving two Children George & Katherine George 
Aged. 2.1. years & Katherine Aged 22 years— 
Isaace died Leaving Seven Children viz Isaac- V.'id 23 years Com- 
fort Aged 22 years, Phebe Aged L6.years, Constant 11 years non 
Compos mentis, Martha Aged 9 years. Alary Aged 7 years and 
Solomon Aged 6 years— 

The Second Lott Contains (i acres & L28 Rods originally laid out to 
Tom Pirn, who Died without Children and has Left three Cousins, 
Isaac Church Mercy hope and Experience Ward — 
The i hird lotl I lontains 6 acres & 128 Rods and Belongs to Hannah 
Mouse & Eliz th Penny Grandchildren of Jonathan Geoi 
The fourth lo1 Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods originally laid out to 
old Sam Church, who is Dead and hath left no Posterity— 
The fifth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods Originaly laid out to 
James Wilcox, who is Dead and hath Left no Posterity— 
The Sixth Lott Contains 6 acres & L28 Rods Originaly laid out to 
old Nebe who has Left two Grand-Daughters Elizabeth and Nebe 
The Seventh Lot Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods originally laid out 
to young James church Belongs to his heirs George & Kat . 
The Eighth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods originally laid out 
to Job Cockaway who has left a Daughter, Abigail! Tetticutl 
a Grand-Daughter Bettj Cockaway 

The Ninth Lott contains 6 acres & L28 roils Originally laid ou1 to 
Young Sam Church, who has left no Posterity 



60 

The Tenth Lott contains 6 acres & 128 Rods < >riginally Laid 
Joshua Quam, who has lefl a Widdo Sarah Quam, and one Daugh- 
ter Hope Penny a Widdo— 

The Eli * Contains 6 acres & L28 Rods Originally Laid 

out to James Church Jun) and has left a Widdo 
The Twelfth Lott Contains 6 L28 Rods Originally laid out 

to old John Wood who has'Left one Grandson Name Samuell — 
The thirteenth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods originally laid out 
to Simon Smith alias Slade who has left No Posterity 
The fourteenth Lot l Contai i I ds Originally laid 

out to David Rice, who ha.- Left Xo Posterity 
The Fifteenth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods Originally Laid 
out to Joseph Husband, and Belongs toJlichard Grandson to his 
Sister Sarah Doggetl 

The Sixteenth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods Originally laid 
out to Joshua Church who has Left No Posterity 
The Seventeenth Lotl Contains 6 acres <6 128 Rods originally laid 
out to Sam 1 Anthony ;i 5 to Ellis Anthony <S Sarah Titti- 

cutl widdows- - 

The Eighteenth Lott Contain - \Un\< originally Laid 

o John Yokine who lefl one Daughter Hannah Married to 
Sias Hall 

The Nineteenth Lott Contains 6 acres & 128 Rods originally Laid 
out to old Job Weshue who has Lefl No Posterity- 
The Twentieth Lott Contains 6 acres <£ 128 Rods originally laid 
oul to Jsaace Sissell who Left two Daughters Mercy X- Ma 
The Twentieth first Lott Contains (i acres iV- Ills Rods originally 
laid out to James CoQk who has Left no Posterity— 
The Twenty Second Lott Contaii iginally 

laid out to Tom Hunter who has Left No Posterity 
The Twenty third Lotl Contains 6 acres L28 rods originally Laid 
out to Sam Titticutl who has Left a Widdo and one Daughter 
Hannah t !ooper 

.onty fourth Lott Contains 6 acres and 128 rods originally 
Laid out to John Sochomoick who has Left one son named John 
and two Grand Daughters Mary & Mi 

JJie Tv in- 6 acre ds < >riginally Laid 

outtoJame I ighter Named Lydia 

And whereas Sundry of the Soldi* i ompany 

under ('apt" James Church have Left no Posterity and there 
being no Provision made for Leivt' Manchester and Twelve others 
in the Same ( iompanj . The i el >irec- 



61 

tion of the Court, assigned to those who have left Posterity, the 
Lotts of those who had Lotts assi emand wh 

ity is Exth . 

ourth Lotl Deboraand Experience the Daughters 
of Lieut. Robin Manchester 

sign to the fifth Lotl I i .rand child] 

Lieut Manchester and Sons of Will"' Manchester 
We Assign to the Ninth Lott Nancj Pelick Daughter of Francis 
send 

sign to thirteen'th Lotl S nd-Child of John So- 

samon— 

We Assign the fourteenth Lotl to Peter and Charles Grand child- 
ren to Peter Washunk 

We assign the Sixteenth Lott to Deborah and Penelope Grand 
I laughters of Peter Washunk — 

We Assign to the Nineteenth Lott to Esther Sampson Sarah Squire 
Grand-children of Benj n Squmnamay — 

We Assign the Twenty first lott to Sarah Quam 8 two Children 
Danill & James — 

sign to the Twenty Second Lo I to Comfort and Thankfull 
Grand children of Renj" Squmnamay — 

W BRATTLE by order 
read & accepted & ordered thai the lands aforementioned arc & 
are confirmed to the several persons according to y e report 
of s committee 

In Council I L764 Read & accepted & ordered that the lands 

aforement. - be & hereby are confirmed to the se eral Persons, 
y" Report of said Comm'' 

i down for Concurrence 

JN? COTTON. D. Seen 
L764 
Read and < !oncur'd 

TIM° RUGGLES Spk r 
ed to 

FRA: BERNARD 

• Fall River Indians are called Troy Indians, in 
public documents, because Troy was the former name of Fall 
River, as explained in the Uriel'. In 1849 a valuable report was 
made to the legisture on the Indians residing in Massachusetts, the 
Report of F. W. Bird, Whiting Griswold and Cyrus Weeks directed 
to His Excellency Geo. X. Bi House Doc. No. 16, L849) 



62 

They were appoii of May 10th, L848, "to visil 

the several tribes and parts of tribes of Indians, remaining within 
this Commonwealth, to examine into their condition and circum- 
stances and report to the next legislature what legislation, in their 
opinion, is necessary in order best to promote the improvement 
and interests of said Indians". 

At pages 11 and 42 incl. of above Document is found: 
"The Troy or Fall River Indians. 

"The territory occupied by this tribe is within the limits of 
the town of Fall River some 3 or 4 miles f mm the village. The 
whole amount of territory is about 190 acres, of which about 20 
acres are owned in severalty, and the remainder held in common. 
The soil is generally good; but the indolent and improvidenl habits 
of the tribe render it of little use to them as means of support. 
"The population of the tribe is .",7. 

Families, 10, 

Males. 17, 

Females, 20, 

Natives, 29, 

Foreigners. 8, 

Under 5 years, 1. 

From 5 to 10 years. 2. 

" 10 " 21 " 8, 

" 21 " 50 " L5, 

" 50 "70 " Hi. 

Over 70, 1, 

Cynthia Cuffee born in Westport, aged 74, 

A i sea, 1. 

"Eighteen or twenty of the above, who are considered as 

ging to the tribe, do not live on the territory. .Many of them 

will probably never return, unless it should be to claim a portion 

of the territory, in case of a division. The means of subsistence 

are mostly day labor. The whole stock of the tribe consists of 2 

pigs and 20 or 25 fowls. They have no public income, (excepl 

some 2o or :!(• dollars a year from rent of pasture lands). No 

schools and no preaching. Of the five children under 16 years of 

age, 1 are bastards, belonging to a family not residing on the 

Indian lands. The presenl guardian, Benj. F. Winslow, was 

appointed in Maj last, under the resolve of April 16th, 1836, 

authorizing the governor to fill a vacancy in said guardianship 

er n should occur. The salary of the guardian, so far as 

we can learn is not fixed by law. The usual sum allowed pf late 



63 

years has been $35. yearly. It might bi I. from the above 

statement of the condition of the tribe, that the appropriations by 
the State for the support of their paupers, have been large. For 
the five years previous to 1848, they have received from the State 
the following sums: 

1843, $107.69, 

is 11. 165.nl!. 

L845, 76.50, 

1846, 110.83, 

L847, 252.1". 

Salary of guardian l'<>r five years. 1 1">-">.00 

To Holder W'mdell in 1848 upon final 

settlement of guardian's account, 214.66 

Total for 6 years. $1122.90" 

"The case of this tribe is clearly one in which the benefits of 
stem of guardianship have not been commensurate with its 
expenses". 

At page 68 of above Doc. 46 are found these names: 
Fall River Tribe. 



Mahala Page, 


aged 36, 


George Page, 


" L5, 


Hurt on Page, 


" 12. 


Charles Pa 


" 8, 


William Page, 


" 7. 


Cynthia Cuffee, 


" 71. 


Ruth Cuffee, 


" 68, 


David Perry. 


" 54, 


Hannah Perry. 


■• 55, 


Lewis Perry. 


" 30, 


David " Jr., 


" 23, 


Josephus Perry. 


" 20, 


William Perry, 


" 27. 


Louisa Perry. 


" 30, 


Catherine Perry, 


1 


Persis Crank. 


" 19, 


Henry Crank. 


" 39, 


Eunice Crank. 


■■ 39, 


\\m. 11. Crank. 


" 21, 


Jane Crank. 


" 1(1. 


Sarah ( 'rank. 


" 52, 


Mark A. II. Crank. 


" 21. 



64 

( !atherine C. Crank. aged 20, 

Thomas M. Crank, ' L8, 



Rebecca Alben, 


•• 60, 


Adam Abner, 


■■ 65, 


Pamela Simonds, 


•■ 10, 


Mary Simonds. 


•' 58, 


Daniel Slade, 


" 51, 


■ ia Slade, 


•• 41, 


Sarah Slade, 


•• 35, 


Hagar Talb 


•■ 60, 


Jermina Freeman, 




ferry, 


" li. 


Stephen Terry, 


" in. 


Maria Terry, 


•• 12, 


•lames Landrj . 


•• 38, 



Total, 37 

As a pan of the same report we have a letter of Benjamin F. 
Winslow of said Fall River who was then the guardian of the Fall 
River Indians. It is annexed to the foregoing report and purports 
to answer a list of questions. It is given here in full: 

"Appendix D. 

Letter from Mr. Winslow. 

Fall River. Dec. 14th, 1848 
"1 (ear Sir: 

"Yours of the 12th instant is at hand, and 1 must ask yoi 
make all possible allowance for the imperfect manner in which 1 
must, necessarily, answer the questions you propound, from my 
limited knowledge of the former condition of the tribe; 1 will, 
however, do what is in my power towards answering the same. And 

1st. The present condition of the tribe is decidedly poor, but 
better than in former years, in some respects. 

2nd. There ar ing laws that I know of. in relation to 

the tribe excepting a Resolve passed June 9th, 1818, appointing a 
guardian; no disabilities except their not being allowed to 
and I think that to he no disadvantage to them. 

'■\vt\. The present guardianship seems to be adt 

only to the relief of those most needy, as far as their pi 
wants are concerned; [ think it might he improved by a limited 
appropriation to ho expended bj the guardian, for specified pur- 



65 

poses, instead of having it at his discretion; and that he be 
instructed or directed by the legislature what course to pin-sue in 
regard to cultivation or improvement of the lands of the tribe. 

1th. I think the tribe would receive no benefil from the privi- 
lege of citizenship, if conferred upon them. 

5th. The land is held both in severalty and in 
n five acres to each of four families, and the remainder is 
held in common: the whole amount of territory is about one hun- 
dred and ninety acres. I suppose the whole territory to be public 
property and to belong to the State, as it was conveyed to the 
Province of Massachusetts Bay by one Daniel Wilcox, and after- 
wards, in the year L701, "it was ordered, thai the Indians be 
accomodated with a settlement for a plantation upon said lands to 
be holden by them of his Majesty's government, within this prov- 
ince during the pleasure of the it". 

There is no other property of any kind, that 1 know of; no 
source of income excepting the small amount obtained from 
wood lands, which are held in common. 

6th. There are seven who have been supported in part at the 
expense of the State, at an average cost of about forty dollars 
each, per year. The present mode of supporting them is. proba- 
bly, as good as any I could suggest. 

7th. The tribe. I think, have not suffered, in any respect, 
from contact with the whites, otherwise than by depredations 
committed upon their woodlands, in former years, by some of 
their white neighbors. 

8th. There is some, but very little fence to be troubled about: 
the bounds which mark the several portions belonging to individ- 
uals or allotted to them, are entirely obliterated: the bounds of the 
whole tract at the corners can be found. 1 have employed a sur- 
veyor to run the lines, and find that the lands have been en 
croached upon somewhat, by owners of the adjacent lands; the 
tribe have no title whatever to the lands, I think. 

nth. What is. or has been, the i amalgamation, I 

cannot say: but from present appearances, it seems that the half 
negro is more disposed to labor for a living than the full blood 
native. 

10th. There are none, at present, but have been some in 
former years, I understand, in relation to the lands. [This refers 
to "disputes or litigation". See House Doc. No. 16, p. 71. Lisl 
of questions.] 



66 

11th. The principal employmenl is day labor, and the 
majority being women and children, their labor amounts to very 
little; their habits are not remarkably industrious; some few 
exceptions, however; generally speaking, they are decently sup- 
ported. 

1 lit h. The health of the tribe, generally, is good, with one or 
two except inns, very good; those are brought on by intemperance; 
a few cases of small pox have lately occurred, in one family, but 
are now well; their facilities for medical aid. the same as other 
inhabitants in the same neighborhood, which are good. 

l.'ith. The habits of the tribe as to chastity, are not bad; and 
as to temperance, probably will not suffer in comparison with the 
whites; there has been improvement in latter years in respect to 
both chastity and temperance, I think, from the best information. 
1 can get, relative to their history. 

14th. The tribe have no school, receive no monej from the 
tribe. State or any other source fur that purpose; bul thechildren, 
generally, have access to the public schools, the same as the 
children of any citizen; there are not over five or six children. who 
are situated so thej can at lend school. 

15th. The tribe enjoy the same privileges in regard to religious 
matters as they do in respect to schools, the families (four in 
number) living on the Indian lands, have no meeting that they 
can attend, within about four miles: those living near the village 
have all the privileges they could wish for. and by a few of their 
number, they are well improved; there is no money raised from 
an.\ source, for the purposes before named, and never has been 
since they were under the care and superintendence of the Com- 
missioners of the Societj for Propagating the Gospel in North 
ica, which superintendence was discontinued some time 
before any guardian was appointed. The first guardian was 
appointed in 1807, by a resolve of the General Court. 

16th. It seems to me that it' the legislature should in their 
wisdom deem it proper to make an appropriation for the purpose 
of fencing the lands, and otherwise improving the same, h 
degree, and make suitable provisions for all such as will liv< 
and improve the land, (or such part as may be assigned to them), 
in the best way to obtain a living, that thereby their condition 
might be somewhat improved; or sell the land and support them 
from the proceeds, who are unable to support themselves, (as far 
as maj 



67 

17th. The general state or condition of the tribe is such that 
it seems hardly possible to conceive of any plan that would be 
conducive of any great good to them, as a tribe, for thej are bu1 a 
"miserable remnant" comparatively speaking, and are but little 
disposed to associate or make a society of themselves, hut seem to 
live isolated, and look for little else than the supply of their 
physical wants; therefore it is almost impossible to do anything 
for them, otherwise than in their individual capacity. There are 
four families living on the Indian land, and hut two men among 
them, who are able to labor for their support, two families living 
in the village, composed of women and young children, mostly; 
the males generally are at sea, those above the age of sixteen 
years. 

It seems by record in the secretary's office, that in the year 
1764, a committee of the General Court appointed a surveyor, to 
renew the bounds, survey, subdivide and plan the tract of land, 
which he made to be 190 acres and 64 rods "granted by ye General 
Court, to ('apt. James Church & Company Inds., and subdivided 
the same into twenty eight equal parts, and created suitable 
bounds, at ye corners of each divisional part or lott"; each lot 
contained 6 acres ami 128 rods, and were then allotted to so many 
families or individuals, as the case might be. Now, I suppose 
there is not one of the tribe that can tell where his or her lot is 
situated, or any thing definite in relation th' 

I have the honor to be, respectfully, your ob't servant, 

BENJAMIN F. WINSLOW. 
F. W. Bird, Esq., 

Chairman Commissioners. &c &c." 

House Doe. No. ic. lsi'.t, pp. sn 1 .. 

Appendix E. shows table from the State Treasurer that Kail 
River Indians received from IS!:; to is 17 inch $743.24. 

House Doc. No. 46, L849, p. 83. 

In L857 one Zerviah Could Mitchell, who lived in North 
Abington, Mass., and who claimed to he a lineal descendant of 
Massasoit, through Benjamin Squmnamay mentioned in the allot- 
ment of 1764, filed a petition with the governor and council asking 
that she he given her rights to lots l!t. 20, 21 and 22 on Terrj '.- 
plan of 17<>:!. The following Council report on this petition con- 
tains several inaccurate statements as to dates and facts hut it is 
given to show the action of the State authorities concerning the 
matter: 



68 

Council Files L857 
"Commonwealth of Massachusetts, 
eeutive Department. 
Council Chamber. 

.. T , „ . Boston, Jan 7 L857 

I he C ommittee to « hom was referred the Petition of Zerviah 
C Mitchell, now residenl of North Abington 

"REPORT 

, . , "Thai by examination of the 

prr ;;'''"•;•«»-"■>, y of State they find thaton the 

f 3of M ^ch 1700 Daniel Wilco> for a , ,nsideration sold 

t the Cover nment of the Province of Massachusetts several tracts 
ofknd mcludrng the tract now claimed by the Troy Indians, to 
which land or a part thereof the petitioner is a claimant 

n„-t r,'."'';. 1 '" 1 '" 1 "'" 1 ^"" [ndians fl1 th e southerly 

P^ of the County oi Bristol, many of whom were serviceable to 
h« Majesty m the wars with the Indians prayed "that a conve- 
ne n a, ,,. land migh ^ed them where , hey might 
settle together m an orderly manner and have the benefit of 
* instruction for their children, "it w that 
™ esaid [n dianE be accommodated with a settl o . ac- 
tion upon the aforesaid la . f - 
tys Government within this province during the pleas, 
p°J ernme nt,andthatacommi >d from time to time 
o direct order & regulate the said settlement in arrangeing and 
setting forth allotments of land to each family of Indians that 
shall or may come to inhabit or settle the said Plantation to he by 
them severallj occupied and improved 

It appears also that the lands W ,v, then divided andalloted to 
the several families. 

H Turther appears that the selectmen of Dartmouth on the 
day of Feb. 1762 petitioned the Provincial Government that par, 

;; l Y ,an ; l ; , ; li Y' , ' t ' ii ;. ;, i'p^p 1 -ia.e,! lwort of the Indians 

^helpless f0rtherehef0fRachelP ^mi,an Indian woman who 

. hereupon on the 16 th of Feb. 1762 the House of Representa- 

tIves rha1 J°s- Williams and Thomas Morey be commis- 

ers to make sale of land not to exceed thirty five pounds in 

o^thell oi Feb. 1762 the Council , the same 



69 

day in Council That \Y" Brattle and Thomas Fletcher 

Esq, with such as the House may join he a committee to inquire 
whether there has been any disposition or settlement of the said 
lands by the Government since the 2ii ,h Feb. 1701 and that they 
search to be made in the public and County records as to the 
quantity and situations of said lands and report; the said 

oncurred in by the House the same day. It appeared evi- 
dent to this Committee thai the Indians never had the fee of the 
lands aforesaid but were tenants at will, that the fee simple of the 
land was invested in the Province, and that they ought not to be 
sold for the support of any Indians. 

In Council April 24. 1762, Ordered that \V m Brattle Esq and in 
the House of Representatives, that Col. Clapp & .Major Pond he 
joined as a committee to inquire into the State of the Indians and 
Report: and on the 3 d of Fel) 1764 they reported that the lands 
had been divided into twenty eight lots, four id' which had been 
given to the family of Capt Church and the remainder assigned to 
the Indian soldiers in his Company. As some of them had died 
without issue the Committee made a new assignment of certain 
lots. 

Your ( Jommittee also 
find the land claimed by your petitioner are. lots No. 1!>, 20, 2\ & 
22 which were assigned to the Heirs of Benjamin Squinnamay on 
a plan drawn by Zebedee Terry Dated Dec •">. lTli:! which lands she 
claims as the only heir now living of those persons to whom they 
iriginally assigned. Each lot containing Six acres & \2s 
rods. 

Your Committee also report that on the 22 l day of September 
they had an interview with Benj. F Winslow Esq, Guardian to 
said Indians, who stated that he believed that she was the right- 
ful heir to said lands but a i on the premises he did 

- ider her entitled to the proc Is of said lands; that he had 

cut off the wood and appropriated the proceeds to support the 
Indians resident on the prem 

Your Committee however are of the opinion that the proceeds 
rightfully belong to the heirs of those to whom they were origi- 
nally assigned, and that the Guardian ought not to convert the 
income of the lands of one individual to the support of oth< 
such a course seems not only unjust to the parties concerned, but 
must have a tendencj to destroy that enterprise, and desire t" 
excel which is so much needed to elevate the Indian population of 
this Commonwealth. 



7(1 

In view of the limited time remainii i mncil, 

and the importance of a thorougl he claims of 

titioner, and of the justice of that claim. 
would recommend that said Petition be referred to the next Coun- 
cil and that they take immediate act ion I net 

DAVID DAVIS 

for the ( 'ommittee 

Later in the same year, L857, we have another report to the 
ncil as follows: 

Council Files 1857 

"Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
Executive Department. 

"( !ouncil ( Ihamber. 

"Boston, Feb 1 " 5 5 1 L857 

"The committee to whom was referred the papers relating to 
the Troy Indians have attended to the subject and ask leavi 
Report 

That in their opinion those portions of the 
land sett off to Benjamin Squinniway are and of right ought to be 
the property of the heirs of the said Squinniway; and from the 
papers referred to them they have no doubt that the petitioner 
Zerviah G. Mitchell is the only surviving heir of the said Squinni- 
way, and coi the rightful owner of the lots numbered 
19, 20, 21 & 22 (each lot containing 6 acres and 128 rods) so far as 
the State granted ownership to her ancestors. 

They the i hat the Secretary forbid the 

from trespassing further upon the lands of the said M 
as heir of the said Squinniway, and further that the A 
an account of the net proceed.- of the wood taken from said lots X" 
19, 20, 21, 22 and that the amount so received be paid over to the 
said .Mitchell by the said Agent in such sums as she may require 
from time to time and that the same be charged to the account of 
support of said Troy Indians. 

I.. M. WHKATOX 
GEO HOWLAND Ji n I 

Council Chamber Feb y . 5. L857, 

The foregoing Report is in Council Accepted. 
FRANCIS DE WITT 

Secretary of the 
( !ommonwealth. 



Committee 



71 

Finally, the claim of Zurviah G. Mitchell was referred to 
J. M. Earle who made a special report upon it. It is am 
hereto a - Appendix A. 

Appendb he Resolve, Ch. 62 of 1861, relating to Mrs. 

Mitchell. Her genealogy is given in Peirce Indian History, pp. 210 
to 218 inclusive. 

There is found Massachusetts Indians in other 

public documents as follows: 

"It is well known that among the so-called Indians there is 
a majority of persons with some infusion of African blood, while 
some of their chief men have little or no Indian blood at all." 
Pub. Doc. No. 17. 1867,/. 32. 4 Report Board State Charities, p. :!J. 
(1867). 

"Our present Indians are chiefly descended, however, from 

those who were either conquered or won over to a friendly relation 

with tlie whites, and the disabilities imposed were such as, it was 

id, would make them less likely again to become hostile". 

Id. pp. 30, 31. 

"We have no statemenl of the sums annually paid on account 
of the Indians lie fore 1843. 

Between L843 and L849 the total amount was $10,059.25, an 
average of $1,676.54. each year. For the ten ear ending Dec. 31, 
1859, i he amount was $29,964.37, an average of nearly $8,000. a 
year. From 1860 to 18t!7 about $30,000. havebeen expended, mak- 
ing a total, in a quarter of a century of $70,000. and upward. Of 
late years the expenses have increased, being in 1865 $4,382.13, 
of which $584. was for schools, and in 1866 $4,778.56, of which 
ST.",.",. was for schools. Id. pp. 28-29. 

English names borne by the Fall River Indians were 
usually taken from those of American families who wvw friendly 
to the Indians. For instance. Captain .lames Church was an 
Indian, as shown by the documents taken from the Massachusetts 
Archives, and no doubt the other names were distributed the same 
way. The Indian population on the Reservation never was large, 
and it direction and dwindled down to some 

four or five persons now living there who would probably have 
difficulty in establishing a rightful claim to any part of the lands. 
Earle's Report of 1861 tells us that only nine acres of land were 
cleared in more than half a century, and the tillage was of verj 
inferior order (Earle's Report 80-1). He says also that "the 
families of several of the proprietors have become extinct". Id. p. 
81. He concludes: "They have no distinct organization. A greal 



72 

portion of them have, for some time, mingled with the general 
community, their families separated alike from those on the 
plantation and from each other, while those remaining on the 
reservation are almost entirely in the incipient or more ad 

of pauperism; audit is an unquestionable fact that those 
who have left the plantation are, as a whole, in a better condition 
than those who remain upon it. Id. 86-7. 

A to the life and customs of Indians recent writers ( Ellis and 
Morris, King Philip War. X. V. L906) say: 

"In his journey through New England the traveler would have 
d, scattered along the inlets of the coast and on the hanks 
ponds and rivers, manj an Indian village surrounded by 
clearings anil cultivated tields. 

Arranged around a center lefl open for the performance of 
the village games and ceremonies, were the wigwams, constructed 
of saplings, which, set firmly in the ground and bent together, 
were fastened at the top and covered with bark or mats. Some 
were cone-shaped, holding only a single family, while others, 
resembling a covered arbor, varied in length from twenty to one 
hundred feet. 

The wigwams were pitched closely together, and the village 
seldom occupied more than from three to four acres. Wit! 
wigwams, and arranged around the walls, were the woven baskets 
that held the corn, stone or earthen household utensils, the pails 
and the low raised bunks covered with boughs and skins. In the 
center blazed the tires, which, either for the purpose of cooking 
or for warmth, were kept constantly alight, and the smoke from 
which found its way skyward through a hole in the roof. The 
liir of the inmates, what with the dirt, the tleas, unruly children, 
yelping dogs and the blinding smoke, which with every gust of 
wind tilled the interior, was one of extreme discomfort." 

"Dressed in moccasins and small breeches of tanned deerskin. 
I and embroidered with wampum, the body left bare above 
the waist and greased, and. on the warpath, adorned with 
grotesque and startling designs in black, yellow and vermilion. 
the totemic emblem of their clan, the bear. wolf, or tortoise being 
featured on the breast. The sachems Were distinguished by heavy 
belts ami caps of wampum, and the Indian dandies adorned them- 
mantles of multi-colored feathers. In fall and 
winter, mantles of fox and beaver, tlf^r and bearskin, with the 
hail- turned in. were worn. 



7:: 

The hair was arranged in a variety of fashions according to 
the taste of the individual. Some shaved on one side of the head 
and let the hair grow long on the other. Some left only a ridge 
in the middle extending from the forehead to the neck, which, 
short and stiffened with paint and grease, resembled the 
of a Roman helmet, while still others shaved all but a small 
tuft, the scalp-lock, on the back of the skull. 

Thnr diet consisted chiefly of fish, wild fowl and game, corn, 
beans and squash, ground nuts anil berries, prepared in a variety 
of ways without regard to the niceties of life, the hones and 
entrails of fish and the smaller animals being seldom removed 

re cooking. 

Two of theii dishes were early adopted by the whites. Corn 
mush or samp, consisting of corn meal and currants boiled with 
water to a paste and served plain or fried in fat. The other was 
succotash, made of boiled corn, beans and fat. to which fish was 
dded. The great dish, however, was a stew of all 
manner of flesh, fish and vegetables boiled in a common pot and 
thickened with powdered nuts. The clambake was a favorite way 
iking shell fish, and was early adopted by the whites. 

While on the warpath or engaged in hunting, parched corn 
and maple sugar were carried, and on this coarse food, moistened 
by water from a spring, they covered long distances. Against the 
winter they provided -tores of parched corn, maize and dried fish, 
stored in pits (the so-called Indian barns) dug in the slop. 
hill and covered with mats and earth."' (pp. 11. 12, i I. 1">. I 

There was published in London, in 1643, and reproduced in 
1827, in Vol. 1 of Rhode Island Historical Society Collections: 

" \ key into the language of America, or an help to the 
language of the natives in that part of America Called New Eng- 
land", by Roger Williams. 

A sketch of Roger Williams is found in 1 Coll. R. I. Hist. Soc. 
p. '■'>, wherein it appears that he was horn in Wales in 1593, edu- 
cated at Oxford Unfvi land, came to America in L631; 
I as minister to Salem. Ala.--.: banished from Massachu 
5. lie died in Providence. R. I., in April. L683. 

Once an Indian said to Roger Williams: '"Fire comes out of 
cold stone, it saved us from dying of hunger; it' a single spark 
falls in the dry wood it consumes the whole country. Can any- 
thing which is so powerful he anything but a deity"? Roger 117/ 
k'ey, \fass. II: . 2, pp 22G 1 



74 

I [&\ in.- ministered to the India [] informed 

about their speech, manners and customs. He says: 

"There is a mixture of this language North and Smith from 

the place of my abode, about six hundred miles; yet within two 

hundred miles i aforementioned I the Dialects do exceedingly differ; 

so, but (within that compass) a man may by this hielpe 

con i rse with thousands of natives all over the countrey" 

1 R. /.. Hist. Soc. i 

He says: "they constantly anoint their heads" and 

"thej give dowries for their wives as the Jewes did." 

They say that from the South-west came their traditions; 
their great God "Cautantauwit" dwells there, where the souls of 
their forefathers lie, and where they will go themselves when 
thej d 

From there, they say. came "their Come, and Beans out of 
the .ureat God Cautantowit's field". Dialogue "is framed chiefly 
after the Narraganset Dialect, because most spoken in the coun- 
try". They are fund of salutations: they say "Netop", which 
means friend. Thej could scarcely believe that that salt water is 
"three thousand English miles" from England. After the death 
of husband or wife they break up house "and live here and there, 
a while with friends to allay their excessive sorrowes. Though 
the natives hold theSoule to live ever" yet when a few persons of 
a particular name die they give up that name as dead. 

"1 have acknowledged amongst them an heart sensible of 

kindness and have reaped kindnesse again from many, seaven 

er, when I myself had foi "I 'arc he. I meal which 

is a readie and wholesome food, which they eate with a little 

water, hot or cold with this readie provision, and their 

Bow and Arrowes, are thej readj for War and travel! at an hour's 
warning, with a spoon lull of this meale have [made a good dinner 

or supper." "They generally all take Tobacco" "they saj 

they take Tobacco for two causes; first against rheume |cold| 
which causeth th eyare impatient of: secondly 

e and refresh them, they drinking nothing but water." 
"Whon nicth in when thej are eating, they offerthem to 

ea1 of that which they have, though hut little enough prepared 

for themselves many a tune and all times of night, (as 1 

have fallen in travell upon th '. when nothing hath been 

ready, have themselves and their wives, risen to prepare me some 
refreshing". "It is a strange truth that a man shall generally 
finde more tree entertainment and refreshing amongst these Bar- 



75 

barians, then amongst thousands that call tl Christians." 

Howling and shouting they use for alarms: as they ha 
drum or trumpets, they make known that way the coming of 
English or Dutch. Fire is used instead of bed clothes and the 
first one who awakes "must repaire the fire:" When they have 
a bad dream "which they conceive to be a threatening from Cud. 
they fall to prayer at all times of the night." In counting they 
can cast great numbers "with the help of graines of Come, instead 
of Europe's pens or counters." They are very affectionate to 
their children. They cover the house with mats "and line them 
with embroided mats which the women make" and they look well. 
They point to the sun for the time of day as we do to clocks. 
"Commonly they never shut their door day or night, ami 'tis rare 
that any hurt is done. " id of shelves, they have several 

baskets, whe put all their household stuffe; they have 

some great bags or sacks made of hempe which will hold five or 
sixe bushells". 

The women raise ami pound the corn by hand and "tal 
much paines as any people in the world which labour is question- 
lesse one cause of their extraordinary ease of childbirth". For 
doors they have hanging mats. and holes in the centre for chimneys. 
They some times get English boards and bolt their doors. They 
bewail or moan at the loss of friends or relatives. Nearly all use 
tobacco "some doe not, but they are rare Birds". They carrj 
tobacco bags with a pipe in it on their back.-; some are 2 fee. 
made of wood or stone with men or beasts carved on it. In sum- 
mer they work in their fields, plant corn. but they spend the winter 
in the woods. Tl; el poles and the women ma!. 

arrange the mats which cover the wigwam. They move when 
tlies plague them, when some one dies &c. They are sociable. 
They In brain to be the seat of the soul. "For the tem- 

the brain in quick apprehensions and accurate judgments 
mi morel the must high and soveraign God and Ci 
hath not made them inferior to Europeans." 

Toothache is the only thing which makes Indian men cry. 
One who can tell them new - in th sir langu i 
that is god. They sit ai ery man has his pipe ami keeps 

silent while one speaks, either getting some news or holding con- 
sultation "with very emphaticall speech and great action, com- 
monly an houre, and sometimes two houres together." They say 
that the English left home because they have burned all the fire- 
nd come here t" get more. They are very observant of the 



76 

sun. moon and stars. If the year is dry they pray even 10 days 
for rain, "h is admirable to see what paths their naked hardened 
feel have made in the wilderness". 

Many whites got lost in the w Is, were found by Indians 

who helped them home. Thej are swift runners; some ran 100 
miles a day; back in two days. 

They prizi ore than any other "cattell". "The 

joy full in meeting of any in travell. and will strike fire either 

with stones or sticks, to take tobacco and discourse a little 

together". "I have been many a night with them, and many 

alone, yet always mercifully preserved". They adore the 

sun "for a god or divii e er". They gave to the guns the 

r" and to shots that of "thunderbolts". They 

love the south west winds which are the warmest in the climate; 

ty they come from the abodeof their gods and the dwelling 

place of their own souls after death. They plan: 

h to prevent the birds from eating it. They build watch 

d and children scare away the black 

birds. They are .ureat marksmen; they take birds by laying nets 

nd catch them. 

"There are an abundance of singing Birds whose name 1 have 

little as yet enquired after. " 

er Williams went to Martha's Vineyard where he was told 
by Indians that birds came from another island. They pr< 
chestnuts and acorns as dainties. Strawberries grew naturally. 
The Indians bruised them with Indian meal and made excellent 
bread. They use huckleberries and currants and dry them; mix 
them with "parcht meale". "The Indian Come keeping the 
body in a constant moderate looseness". The women set or plant, 
hill and .wither corn and fruits. 
They use naturj f shell and wood. Main get together 

i" iir . plant. 

An Indian would start with basket of com. and • make 

i hatchet, cut down a tret', make a shed of the hark 
and burn and hew the inside, make a dug-out, ate his corn, fish- 
ed some and in 10 or 12 days had a bo -.m^ fish on the 

"Their own reason hath taught them to pull off a coal or two 

; small pole with which they would saile before a 

wind b tj miles.' Thej are great swimmers, they will 

swim over two or more miles to reach land. They make fishing 

nets of strong hemp; or catch fish by striking the fish with their 



77 

arrows and sticks. Indians delight in eating clams winter or 
summer. They are picked up by the women at low water. They 
boil them and mix the broth with their bread which gives them 
lecessary salt. 

He says: "This (clams) is a sweet shellfish which all Indians 

generally over the country, winter and summer delight in " 

English pigs watched low water and competed with Indian women 
aboul eating and rooting clams. They were hated badly by the 

Indians on that account. ""The natives take exceeding 
pains in their fishing, especially in watching- their seasons by 
night; so that frequently they lay their naked bodies a cold night 
on the cold shoare about a fire of two or three sticks, and oft in 
the night search their nets; and some times goe in and stay longer 
in frozen water. " They also break the ice on fresh ponds and 
catch fish. 

They go naked, except wearing small breeches, or covered 
with beasts* skin some times. Aprons about the waste; children 
are naked until 10 or 12 years. 

In doors they leave off the beast skins. They have turkej 
feathers for ornament or headgear. They are made by "'their old 
men" and "is with them as velvet is with us". 

They make shoes and stockings of i\w]- skins, well oiled so 
that snow or water do not go through. [Mocassins.} They tan the 
leather themselves very well. They paint these deer skins for 
summer wear. 

They wear English clothing some times, but take it off in the 
rain to keep them dry. and pull it off when they return home. 

They believe God is the author of all things. If they loose a 
child or have an accident they say God is angry with them. 
But they have many other gods, such as Sun God, Moon God, Sea 
God, Fire Cod. &c. They say the spark which gives tire reveals 
a divine power. 

If they see any one surpassing others, or something excellent 
in birds, beasts, fish, they cry out "Ma/iittoo" a God. They have 
feasts where great excitement and contorsions pre\ ail : dancing, 
&c. They make solemn speeches. Their priests and old men 
speak of peace, war and God. Their government is an absolute 
Monarchy. The sachem is their prince and ruler: but decides 
nothing without consulting them; he punishes by whipping or 
death. I ■ They generally have many*. wives 

except the chief of the Narragansetts who usually has only one. 



78 

An offending or adulterous woman is put away. The offender 
is beaten or wounded. 

Dowry is given to women at marriage. It' parents are ton poor 
others contribute. They sell furs to the English for Indian money, 
is of 2 kinds. One white, made of the stem or stock of the 
periwinchle, when all the shell is broken off. 6 of these heads are 
worth an English penny. They bore a hole in them and string 
them like bracelets. Black money is made of the shell fish called 
hentish. .'! of these make an English penny. Wampum is white 
money. They string this money and hangit on the necks of men. 
women and children. Some only make bows and arrows. Others, 
women, make earthen vessels, some only attend to hunting and 
fishing and again others store shells which pass for their money. 

They are very suspicious in trading with the English, thinking 
that the latter want to deceive them. They will go 40 miles to 
save 6 pence. 

Women paint their faces with all sorts of color. Whole 
family go hunting. They set traps for deers. Some times wolves 
are caught; they take their skin. They eat the deer that is 
caught and use the skin for clothing. They play, instead of cards 
"with strong Rushes'". 

"They have a kind of Dice which are Plumb stones painted, 
which they cast in a Tray with a mighty noyse and sweating." 
Men and women paint their faces. They use pine bark and red 
earth for that purpose. They take sweats by making a hot 
Build it side of a hill. Heat stones. They go in without clothing 
several, about 20, at once, stay there some time, smoking, then 
jump in cold water. They sweat to clean their skin and purge 
i heir bodies. 

Their own Indian priests and conjurers among them get their 
money. They effect some cures. They howl, roar and hollow at 
them and sing to the rest of the people. 

When deatli occurs they blacken their face with soot, weeks. 
months, even a year at a time, as a mark of sorrow. The name 
of the dead must not be mentioned. Mere mention of a dead 
Sachem is the cause of war. They wrap up the body of their 
dead in mats, put it near the grave. Have general lamentations. 
Every one cries. Thej lay the bodj in the grave, they spread on 
the grave the mat on which he died, hang up his skin coat on the 
neare I tree and leave it to rol there. Canonicus, Sachem of the 
Narragansetts, after he buried his son. burned his horse in 
expiation. 



79 

Herrings were plentj then, and the Indians would dry what 
the] did not use. They also used herrings as fertilizers, by put- 
ting one into every hill of corn. They also planted beans and 
pumpkins. Peirce, Ind. Hist. p. LO. Massasoil sent some corn to 
the English and through the interpreter Hobbamock showed the 
Pilgrims how to plant corn and beans. Id. p. lit. 

The consideration paid for the Freemen's purchase conveying 
about one half of the territory now covered by the city of Fall 
River, north of City Hall, was "20 coats. 1 little kettle, 8 pairs of 
shoes, 6 pairs of stockings, one dozen of shoes, one dozen of 
hatchets. 2. yards of broadcloth and a debt to be satisfied of John 
Barns which was due from Wamsutta" very likely for rum, since 
Barnes kept a tavern. Id. 38. . 

We publish five reports of the guardians of the Fall River 
Indians, in the appendices (C. D. E. F. G.) which speak for them- 
selves. The last one was made in 1868. Immediately after that, 
the St. 1869 C. 463 which freed the Indians from guardianship 
was passed. 



COLONIAL LEGISLATION CONCERNING INDIANS. 



The general court of the colony of Massachusetts Bay took 
early steps to regulate the sale of liquor to Indians. They put on 
a penalty of 40 shillings for every pint sold or delivered to an 
Indian, except in cases of "sudden exigent faintness or sickness. 
not to exceed two drams." The statute went on further: 

""And for the better discovery of such ill disposed persons who 
through greediness of filthy lucre shall privately sell or deliver 
strong liquors- ■■• " to any Indian, and it said that the testimony 
of an Indian, "with other concurring circumstances amounting to 
an high presumption in the direction of the court" would he suffi- 
cient to convict, unless the accused could take the following 
purgation oath: 

"You, A.B., do swear that neither yourself, nor any other by 
your order, general or particular assent, privity, knowledge or 
allowance, directlj or indirectly did give, sell or deliver any wine, 
cyder, rhum, or other strong liquors or drink, by what name or 
names soever called or known, unto the Indian by whom and 
of you are now accused. So help you God." 



It was also provided that if an Indian was found drunk he was 

fined five shillings, (about si. mi. of present money). or else openly 

whipped by the constable of such town or place, not exceeding 

ten lashes, as the justice of the peace before whom such convic- 

. shall determine". 

February 24th, L694; 1 Acts & Res. Prov. Mass. Bay, pp. 
L50-151. 

Earlier legislation also applicable to the Indians in the 
Fall River territory are found in Plymouth Colony Laws, p. 89, 
i Boston, 1836. i 

1658. 

"SELLING wink OR STRONG WATER TO INDIANS. 

"It is enacted that noe person whatsoever shall henceforth 
sell wine or strong water to any Indian, unless in case of sickness 
or faintnest and then onely with the foreknowledge & con- 
sent of a magistrate if there be any in the township, or in defect 
him with the foreknowledge and consent of the comittees or 
grandjurymen of the said township. & but for a smale quantity, 
and fur every default e lo pa.\ X s to the Colonies use. " hi. p. 111. 

1663. 

"It is enacted by the Court, that if any Indian or Indians 
shall be found drunke in any township of this Gov r ment: That 
they be forthwith taken by the constable of the towne and sett in 
the stockes; and that if any liquors shalbee found with the Indians 
that it he forfeit to the use of the (iov'ment. and that it shalbee 
lawful for any man to seize any Indian found drunke or any 
liquors found with the Indians and bring him or it to the constable 
to be ordered and disposed of as aforesaid, unless any Indian shall 
make it appear that hee hath such liquors according to order of 
Court. And the said Indians that shalbee sett in the stockes as 
above said shall defray the charge thereof which is two shillings 
and six pence a time for everj of them." Id. p, 123. 

1659. 

"Whereas complaint is made thai the Indians in several] ; 
of this Jurisdiction liveing in remote places from any townshipes 
have received great damage by the horses and hoggs of the 
English: It is enacted by the Court that it shalbee lawful for the 
Indians soe enoyed by the horses or hoggs of the English whoelive 
remote from any towne to bring such horses or hoggs to the pound 
in the next township and t here lo bee kept t ill t he owners take a 
course to satisfy the damage: and such Indians to have twelve pence 



81 

a peece for horses and six pence a peece for hoggs; if they bring 
them above eighl miles; and alsoe that if any neal Cattle shall 
treaspass the Indians; it shalbee lawfull for them to impound 
them that sue they may have reasonable satisfaction." hi. p. 288. 

Laws relating to Indians revised: 

PROHIBITIONS AGAINST INDIANS. 

They were nut to hunt, fish, fowl, travel with lun-den or do 

ile work en Sunday. 

White men could not sell them firearms, ammunition ("be- 
cause the Indians who are naturally perfidious are abundantly 
more insolent and proud, when they are furnished with English 
arms." Ply. Col. Laws. p. 288); nor boats, barges, vessels, sails 
or tackling; no Indian shall give any ear-mark to his swine, like 
the English, the latter alone to have earmarks for their swine; no 
pei-son could purchase land of Indians without government's 
consent, nor buy wood, timber, herbage from them; 10 shillings 
must be paid in money to town clerks for every horse sold to In- 
dians, but no mare shall be sold to them, & a mare found in keep- 
ing of Indians was to he forfeited; lending of horse to Indian pun- 
ished by in shillings: £5 fine for selling liquor to Indians, ("this 
order shall not extend to restrain any charitable act, in relieving any 
Indian bona ml, in any suddain exigent of sickness, faintness &c, 
ceeding one dram or two, or by the prescription and direc- 
tion of some Physician, under the hand of -a Magistrate first 
obtain"); testimony of an Indian suflicient to convict "any Eng- 
lish person" unless such English shall upon their oath clear 

elves from any such act " In case of conviction of 

sale of liquor to Indians, when the line was not paid, the convict 
was publicly "whipt." Plym. Col. L. pp. 288-9-290. (State Ed. 
is:;.;,. 

NOTE. 

Computation of time, Old Style and '■ 
A leu words are necessa what i- to be understood by OLD 

STYLE and NEW STY] 

The Julian Caleud d mi the supposition that 8 ■.. ,lavs 

and 6 hoi in truth, an annual revolution of the sun i> performed in 

365 days, 5 hours, (8 minutes and iat the Julian civil yi 

too long, and exceeded the solar by ti minutes and i\' : seconds, which 

[II coi rected tin- • 
[582. The time as computed by tin- Julian method, which i- called OLD 
STYLE, had then advanced ten days beyond th< true time. Ik- ordered that 
should Ik. suppressed, and that thenceforth threi la liould In- 



82 

dropped ears, which would be nearly equivalent to one day in 130 

years. 

The year under the OLD STYLE began the 25th ol March: he ordered 
that it should begin the first of January. The new reckoning was called NEW 
STYLE. It was not adopted in England and this country, till 1 75^. when the 
error had reached eleven days. In old records, deeds and other papers, we 
find, between 1st January and 25th oi March, DOUBLE dates; as Jan 17. 1717 iS. 
which mean 1717 old style and 171S new style. Another perplexity often arises 
from not recollecting that January aud February were the latter i>art of the 
\ear. For instance: a distinguished man. who died a hundred 
February, it h lied an ordins 

which was true, reckoning according to OLD STYLE. Another example: 
King G ' ■ til. in May 1; riverton to be set to Rhode Island, and 

lature, AFTERWARDS, in obedience to that order, in January of the 
same year, incorporated anew the town of Tiverton. The act of incorporation 
took place the latter end of the yeai 1746, OLD STYLE, oi the beginning of 
the year 1747, NEW STYLE. The practice of DOUBLE dating, between 1st 
of January and 25th March, was dropped alter 1702. Fowler. Hist. Fa 



33 

APPENDIX A. 

House Files— 1861. 

Special Report 

to 1 he Governor and Council, 

of the Commonwealth. 

in the cases of 

ZURVIAH GOULD MITCHELL AND JOHN HECTOR, 

heard before 

John Milton Earle, 

Commissioner 

under the Act of April 6, 1859, relating to the 

Indians of the Commonwealth. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

To His Excellency 

John A. Andrew. Governor &c. 

The undersigned. Commissioner under the Act of April, 1859, 
relating to the Indians of the Commonwealth, would respectfully 
submit the following 

Special Report: 

By the provisions of the Act under which he was appointed, 
he was authorized to hear parties in relation to any matter of 
inquiry with which he was therein charged. Under that provi- 
sion, several claims were brought before him for investigation, 
and. on two of them, which are treated in this report, after giving 
due notice to the parties and examining the claims, reports were 
prepared thereon, but were retained under an apprehension that 
new facts mi^ht be developed or Mime conclusion arrived at in 
relation to the general subject of inquiry entrusted to him. which 
might influence or control the recommendations which oughl to be 
made, for the action of the legislature. That reporl having been 
made, lie now submits the cases referred to, which are those of 
Zurviah Gould Mitchell and John Hector, as follows: 



84 
Case of Zurviah G. Mitchell. 

The petitioner in this rase claims, a il and sole sur- 

viving heir of Benjamin Squinnemay, four lots of land, containing 
each six acres and one hundred and twenty eight rods, situate in 
Indian Town, so called, in Fall River, being a pain of the Indian 
plantation at that place, which lots, she affirms, are illegally with- 
held from her possession, by Benjamin F. Winslow, Guardian of 
the Troy or Fall River Indians. She also claims pay for wood cut 
from said lots, for the use of said Indians or sold for their benefit, 
by direction of said Winslow and his predecessors in said office, 
and prays that possession of .-aid lots may he given her. and that 
payment may be made for the value of the wood, so taken from 
them. 

Due notice having been given to said Winslow. the parties 
appeared at an adjourned public hearing at New Bedford, Aug. 
31, L859, and were fully heard thereon. 

The evidence laid before the i immissioner establishes the 
following facts, viz: 

1. That the Indian lands at fall River were granted in the 
early part of the las! century, to ('apt. -lames Church and others 
of his company of friendly Indians, hut no record w., 

any subdh ision among them prior to L764. 

2. In 1764, a number of the original grantees having died 
without heirs, a committee of the General Court, appointed for 

the purpose, caused the land to he rosurveyed. and the hounds 
renewed, with a plan thereof. From the report of the I 
it appears that t! een a previous subdivision and assign- 

ing the proprietors, and they give the names of 
the proprietor oi I lots, as originally assigned, designat- 

ing the lots, the posterity of whose owners had become extinct. 
and giving the names of the presenl owners of those which were 
still held by hereditary descent. Then then say: 

"And whereas sundry soldiers, belonging to the company 
under ('apt. .lames Church have left no posterity, and there being 
no provision made for Lieut Manchester and twelve others, in the 
same company, the Committee have, agreeable to the direction of 
t he ( !ourt, assigned tot hose who have lefl posterity, the li 
those who had lotts assigm hem, and whose posterity is 

extinct." 

B; the original assignment, the twentieth lot belongei 

Isaac Sissell, who left two daughters Mercs- and .Mary." Sissell's 



85 

wife, the mother of Mercy and .Mary, was the daughter of Benja- 
min Squinnemay. The posterity of the owners of the nine 
twenty first, and twenty second lots, having become extinct.these 
lots were respectively assigned, the nineteenth "to Esther Samp- 
son and Sarah Squin," the twenty first "to Sarah Quam's two 
children. Daniel! and James." and the twenty second to Comfort 
and Thankful", all "grandchildren of Benjamin Squinnemay". 
This report was read and accepted, in both branches of the General 
Court. Feb. .",. 17b4. and an order passed thereon, that the lands be 
confirmed to the several persons named, agreeably to the report of the 
Committee, which was approved by Gov. Bernard. 

3. That, for many years past, most of this land has lain in 
common, being covered with wood, which has. from time to time, 
been cut off, by direction of the Guardian for the time being, and 
used by the families residing thereon, or sold for their benefit, as 
their necessities required, till little remains, except a growth of 
scrub oak. The original division into lots has been disregarded, 
and the families living thereon, have been located without any 
regard to such divisions, and have cultivated small patches. 
adjacent to their dwellings, cutting wood for fuel where it best 
suits their convenience, or where the Guardian may direct. 

1. That Mrs. Mitchell, on the refusal of the Guardian to 
recognize her claims, applied to the Governor and Council for re- 
dress. The matter was. thereupon, investigated by a Committee 
of the Council, who made a report, dated Feb. 3, 1857, in which 
thej gave the opinion that thse lots "are, and of right ought to 
be, the property of the heirs of Benjamin Squinnemay, and. from 
the papers referred to them, they have no doubt that the petition- 
er, Zurviah G. Mitchell, is the only surviving heir of said Squinne- 
may, and. consequently, the rightful owner of the lots numbered 
L9, 20, 21, and 22, so far as the State granted ownership to her 
ancestors." The report further recommended that the Secretarj 

rected to forbid said Winslow from further trespassing on 
said lots, and that he render an account of the wood sold there- 
from, and pay over the proceeds thereof to said Zurviah (1. 
Mitchell, from time to time, as she may require, and chargi 
same to the account of the Troy Indians. This report was accept- 
ed by the Council, fob. 5, and the same day, an order was issued 
by the Secretary, in conformitj with the recommendation therein 



:11 cop} "I thi- report containing the assignment oi the lots, see 
Appi idix , ort. 



contained, which order was duly served on said Winslow, July 2. 
1858. 

5. That an adjustment, satisfactorj to Mrs. Mitchell not 
having ensued in consequence of this action she brought the matter 
again before the Governor and Council, and again it was referred 

ommittee of that body. The Committee made a report on 
the 2 d of June 1858, in which they say that they "believe that 
neither the petitioner nor any of the Indians, are the owners/// 
fa simple of the lands occupied by them, but they are owned by 
the Commonwealth, which holds them for their benefit." The 
Committee conclude by saying that have "visited the place with 
the Guardian, and directed him to cause to be surveyed, a portion 
of land to ed by -Mrs. .Mitchell and her family, the 

amount not t, finally assigned to her ancestors, and 

with this, she appeared to be satisfied." 

6. That the Guardian, acting under the order of the Council 
of L857, paid over to Mrs. Mitchell a certain sum of money, being, 
as lie claims, the full value of her portion of the wood sold— a 
claim which Mrs. Mitchell does not admit. 

7. That he also surveyed and set apart to Mrs. Mitchell's 

lie land, on which she caused a house to be placed, 
but was subjected to such opposition and molestation in the occu- 
pancy, that she felt constrained to abandon it. 

8. That the Guardian has continued to cut wood as heretofore 
notwithstanding the injunction served upon him. and to act upon 
the assumption, which he claims to be authorized bj the reporl of 
the Committee of the Com cil of 1858, that the land is held for the 
common benefit of all the Indians, of whom he is ( Guardian. 

On the state of facts, tl i ted, Mrs. Mitchell avers 

that her right to the land and its product is substantiated: that 
- uncil of L857 conceded the justice of the entire claim, firsl 

to the possession of the lots, and then to compensation for the 
wood taken from them: that the Committee of the Council of 
L858, while they deny that the fee was in her, substantially con- 
cede the same thing, by directing a portion of the land, "not to 
exceed that originally assigned to her ancestors, " to be surveyed 
and set apart to her OCCUpancj and use, and by their tacit assent 
to 1 he ( [uardian's paying her the value of the wood sold. 

Comn '■ ' the 

e claims, that, "when the Court, in 17(11. set oil' 

these four lots to the heirs of Benjamin Squinnemay, and the 
General Court confirmed the same, this confirmation was into 



87 

to opci-aif as a gift or granl in fee simple, the grant being, as she 
claims, a gifl of the fee. But, if this claim is not sustained, she 
claims thai her "right to the equitable fee is clear and indisputa- 
ble, i e. she is the owner of the land, to her self and heirs, 
subject only to the trusteeship of the Commonwealth. As cestui 
que trust, she has all the rightsand privileges which any owner of 
land has. in the State, saw that the legal fee is in the Common- 
wealth, and she cannot sell without permission of the State, her 
." She claims, therefore, a recognition of these rights, 
and protection by the State, in the enjoyment of them. 

On the other hand, it is contended by the Guardian, that the 
granl was made for the general use of the grantees, as the legis- 
lature might direct: that the assignment of lots in 1764 was tem- 
porary in its nature, limited to the personal occupancy of the 
assignees, and intended only to prevent the occupants from 
encroaching on each other, and that the legislature might, at any 
time, make another and different assignment of the lots, or 
otherwise dispose of the same, and that, consequently, Mrs. 
Mitchell has no special right to the lots assigned to her ancestors, 
but, that whatever right she has in the Indian lands is the same 
that all the other Indians of the tribe have, to a joint ownership in 
common to the whole, except so far as exclusive occupancy may 
be assigned by the Guardian or the Commonwealth; and that this 
position is confirmed by the fact, that most of the lands have lain 
in common for a long period, and that those who occupy portions 
of it. do it without any reference to the former division. 

It is not perceived how Mrs. Mitchell's claim to the fee of the 
land can be sustained. Contemporaneous legislation shews that 
grants of land to Indians, for whatever purpose, or whatever 
cause, were not made in fee simple, but the fee was retained by 
the Commonwealth as their trustee, in order that the otlu r benefits 
of ownership might be more perfectly secured to the grantees and 
their heirs. At the time of the assignment of* the lots in 1764, 
there were fifty six proprietors. With the general poverty of the 
Indians, and the improvident habits which unfortunately, were 
too prevalent in that class of our population, it cannot, for a 
moment, be supposed, that, had they possessed the fee, some por- 
tion of the land, at least, would not have been sold to relieve their 
necessities, or taken on execution, in satisfaction of their debts. 

The position of the Guardian seems equally untenable. Had 
the right granted been that of a tenant at will, or of a life estate, 
simply, it would have-been made in such form. Bui the grant 



appears to have been unrestricted, except by that general provi- 
sion of law, existing at the time, by which no Indian could dis- 
pose of real estate but by consent of the Siat<'. The grants of 
lands to other Indians have all been in perpetuity, and, after 
division, mad eralty by authority of the legislature, the 

of hereditary descenl pulously regarded. But 

we are not left to rest alone on inference drawn from the g 
course of legislation and precedents, in such cases. The report of 
the Committee, on which the subdivision and assignment of lots 
was made in 1764, recoKnizes and sustains the exclusive individual 
rights of the grantees, as well as the sanctity of hereditary descent. 
In every instance, where heirs of the original grantees were liv- 
ing, their rights iwlged and respected, alike, whei 
heirship was by direct or collateral descent, and whether tin' 
heirs to any lot were many or but one. And this is spoken of in 
the schedule which makes a part of the rep" 
courtesy or convenience, but of absolute right. Thus, forins 
it is said: "The second lot was originally laid mil to Tom Pirn, 
who died without children, and has left (/ire, cousins, [saacChurch, 
Mercy Hope, and Experience Ward' - : and on the accompanying 
plan, shewing the ownership of such lots as had inherited them 
from the original proprietors, it is said "this [the second] lot 
belongs to Mercy Hope. Isaac Church, and Experience Ward.*' 
Again; the schedulesays; "the fifteenth lot. originally laid out to 
Husband, b s to Richard, grandson to his [Husband's] 
sister, Sarah Doggett." These two cases furnish instances of 
collateral descent, and o both by a single heir and by 
more than one. 

But, aside from all these considerations, the right of the heirs 
to the inheritance, and to hold it in severalty according to the 
assignment, would seem to be conclusive, from the nature of the 
grant. It was not made as a gift, conferred without pecuniary 
consideration, nor yet as a provision for paupers dependant on the 
Siaie for support, but, as an equivalent for services, and. as such, 
carried with it all the rights of property, to which Indians were 
entitled under the laws of the State, as completely as if it had 
1 n purchased with the money of the grantees. 



This repo 1 on the evidi b) Mrs. Mitchell 

and the Guardian. Since it w:i^ written, I from the 

ProviiK which demonstrate, most completely, the correctness "i 

iln conclusions t<> which 1 had arrived in the report, \i/: that the lots belong 



89 

An objection was made by the Guardian, that there was no 
sufficient evidence thai Mrs. Mitchell is the sol heir of Benjamin 
Squinnemay. There might be some force in the objection, if the 
matter had not been investigated, or if good cause had been shewn, 
to believe that there were other heirs living: but as the Committee 
of the Council of L857 made inquiry, and reported that they were 
satisfied she was the sole heir of Benja. Squinnemay; as the Coun- 
cil of 1858 recognized her rights as such, as the Guardian, himself 
admits that she is an heir, and as it is hardly possible, after the 
notoriety that has been given to Mrs. Mitchell's claim, and the 
consequent excitement among the members of the tribe, that any 
other heirs should be in existence, and the fact not become known, 
it would be unjust that her rights should be prejudiced by the 
mere suggestion that such might possibly be the case, when 
unsupported by any evidence to that effect. 

I am therefore of the opinion that Mrs. Mitchell has sustained 
her claim to the ownership of the four hits in question, subjed to 
the trusteeship of this Commonwealth, and that she is entitled to 
possession thereof, and to a fair equivalent for the wood that has 
been cut therefrom. By the report of the Committee of the 
Council of June 2, 1858. it appears that "the Guardian, B; I'. 
Winslow, has paid the petitioner $63.26, being as much as he 
thinks she is entitled to, of the money received from the sale of 
the wood." With this sum Mrs. Mitchell is not satisfied, and 
asks that the matter be investigated, and that a fair and just con- 
sideration be made to her. for the wood taken from her lots, down 
to the time when it may lie adjusted. 

Subsequently to the Report of June 2, 1858. the husband of 
Mrs. Mitchell, then living, purchased a building, and with the 

tc. tlic several grantees in severalty, and to their heirs forever, Inn not in fee 
simple, tin- Commonwealth retaining the fee as their trustee. From thos< 
records it appears Unit the original grant of land was mad< to Capt. Church 
and members of his company in 1 701. In [707 the proprietors petitioned tin 
General Court tor an exchange of a portion of their land for some other which 
would bi them, anil for a division Hi In 1.1 in 

severalty, by them, their heirs and assii oth words for a grant of them 

imple. The exchange of laud wa md made ami tin: o 

division into lots, and the assignment of them to tin- s ( .\ L - ; ,i proprietors was 
made by a Committee, and on tin 22c! ol \< , the General Court 

confirmed the lands to them in severalty, and to their hex 
be assign tated but to coutinui Indian plantation." For a 

fuller account of this, ami the reloi 
notici "i tin Fall River Tribe ami Appendix C. in my general report 



'.Ill 

consent of the Guardian placed H on the Lo1 which he had assigned 

to them, to be fitted up and occupied by themselves and family, as 
a dwelling house, with the intention of cultivating the land. The 
measures which had been taken by Mrs. .Mitchell to obtain a 
recognition of her rights on the Plantation, had produced feelings 
of dislike and hostility toward her, in the minds of the residents 
on the Plantation, who looked upon her as a stranger and an inter- 
loper who was seeking- to deprive them of their rights— feelings 
which had been freely manifested, by words, in the community 
and which were frankly avowed to the Commissioner, when he 
visited them. Soon af 1 ouse was placed on the territory, 

the windows were broken out. and other similar outrages were 
committed evincing a disposition to harass the family and to make 
their residence there disagreeable, if not impossible. These, with 
the death of Mrs. Mitchell's husband, which took place not long 
after, induced her to suspend further operations on the house, 
and it awaits, in an unfinished state, the adjustment and settle- 
ment of Mrs. Mitchell's claim. 

It is obvious, that with the embittered state of feeling exist- 
ing on the plantation toward Mrs. Mitchell, her settlement thereon 

would he unfavorable to the peai f the neighborhood, and most 

unpleasant to herself and family, and should he avoided, if it can 
reasonably he done. Believing that the interest of all parties con- 
cerned would lie promoted by an adjustment that should give to 
Mrs. Mitchell a fair equivalent for her interest in the property at 
Fall River, and leave the State in possession of the same, for the 
benefit of the Indians residing there, I would respectfully recom- 
mend that measures should he taken to that end. Mrs. Mitchell's 
husband was a worthy and respectable man. a tax payer, and a 
citizen. She is a capable energetic woman, a member is good 

The Annual Report ol the Guardian dated S 

"During the past year, the peace and quiet of those living on the Indian 
lauds have been disturbed by a "new comer" auiougst them. One Zurviah 
Mitchell ime and claimed sole ownership of 

one eighth of the whole tract ol land, and a Committee of the Council having 
through a misapprehension ol the lat she was the 

owner, bj heirship, of the premises, claimed l'\ her, she has taken liberties, 

11 r member of the tribe \ 
although another Commilt i thai the said 

Zurviah Mitchell \s not the owner in fee sitnpl yel sh< 

continues boisterous in her claims, under the decision of tb< foi hum Committee, 
and fias c;ui<t-</ much ill feeling, on the part of those ol the tribe who 1 
lauds, towards her, and considerable trouble foi the Guardian 



91 

standing of a Christian Church, and is represented to be entirely 
competent to the management of her own affairs. She neither 
desires nor needs the Guardianship under which the Indians are 
placed, and would be better situated among her friendsather 
present home in Abington, where she has long resided, than among 
Strangers, between whom and her unkind feelings prevail, on the 
plantation at Fall River. An arrangement which would prevent 
her settlement there would probably be quite as advantageous to 
the residents on the plantation, and to the Guardian, as it would 
be to Mrs. Mitchell. 

I would, therefore, respectfully recommend that the Gov- 
ernor he authorized to appoint, with the advice and consent of the 
Council, a Commissioner whose duty it shall be to ascertain what 
amount, if any is still equitably due to Mrs. .Mitchell for wood 
taken from her lots, and to agree with her upon a sum, on the 
payment of which she will relinquish to the Commonwealth all 
her right and interest in the Indian lands at. Fall River, and. fail- 
ing to make any arrangement with her. shall be authorized to pro- 
ceed and lay out the lots for her. according to the original survey 
and allotment, and for this purpose. I report the annexed Resolves. 

All which is respectfully submitted 

JOHN MILTON EARLE 



Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 

House of Representatives, M'ch L5, L861. 
The Committee on Claims to whom was referred the Special 
Report of John Milton Earle, Commissioner under the act of April 
6, 1859, relating to the Indians of the Commonwealth, ask to he 
discharged from the further consideration thereof and recommend 
that portion of the Report which refers to the case Zurviah G. 
Mitchell, he referred to the Committee on Probate and Chancery, 
and that portion, which relates to the Case of John Hector, to the 
Attorney General of the Commonwealth. 

Vnv the Committee. 

S. B. STEBBINS. 

Senate March 21, 61. H. of R. Mar. 16 /61, 

Concurred Accepted 

S. N. GIFFORD Clerk Sent up for concurrence 

WILLIAM STOWE, Clerk 



92 

APPENDIX B. 

Resolves 1861, Chapter (12. 

RESOLVES IX FAVOR OF ZURVIAH G. MITCHELL. 

RESOLVED, That the governor and council be and they are 
herebj authorized to examine the claims of Zurviah G. Mitchell. 
and to ascertain what amount, if any. is still due to her for wood 
cul from her lots on the Indian territory, at Fall River, and sold 
by the successive guardians of the Indians at the place, for their 
benefit; and also to agree with the said Zurviah G. Mitchell, on 
a sum, for which on the payment to her. she will relinquish to the 
Commonwealth all her right, title and interest in and to said lots. 

RESOLVED, That in case a satisfactory arrangement cannot 
otherwise be made with the said Zurviah G. Mitchell, of the sum 
to be paid to her for the relinquishment of her claims, the gov- 
ernor and council may agree with her on referees, to whom the 
question shall be left, and who- ■ decision thereon shall be final 
and conclusive; subject, however, to the approval of the governor 
and council. 

RESOLVED, That on the satisfactory adjustment of these mat- 
ters the governor be authorized to draw his warrant on the 
treasury for such amount as may he awarded to said Zurviah (i. 
Mitchell, to be paid to her on the signing of such release as shall 
be satisfactory to the governor and council; said release to be a 
perfed and full discharge of the Commonwealth, and of the 
guardian of the Troy or Fall River Indians, from any claim she 
may have on the Indian land at Fall River, or for wood which 
may have been cut thereon. 

Resolved, That in casea satisfactory arrangement cannot be 
made with the said Zurviah <i. Mitchell, for the relinquishment of 
her rights in the Indian plantation, the guardian of the Troj or 
Fall River tribe be authorized to proceed to survey and layout her 
lots, by metes and hounds, according to the original laying out, 
giving her due no1 ice of the I ime w hen it is done: provided, how- 
ever, that the legislature shall not have previously provided 
otherwise, for a new survey and location of the several lots on 
said plantation. 

Approved April 2, L861, 



93 

APPENDIX C. 

Miscellaneous Files: 
Reports of Indian Guardians, etc. 

Fall River March 12 th L843 
To the Hon. John A. Holies Secretary of the Commonwealth of 
Massachusetts- 
Sir- 

Your letter dated Feb 1 st 184-'! was received on th- I" 1 
inst. at which time I was confined to my house with sickness — 

You request me to state to y<>u my own compensation, and 
that of my Deputies or Agents for the ten years, ending the first 
of the present year, or for the time 1 have been in office. 

In reply, 1 state, that I have had no Deputies or Agents I 
received my Commission as Guardian of the Troy Indians in May 
1836— and have held said Commission six years the eleventh day 
of May last past From the time 1 first rec d my Commission to the 
ending of the last year, I have received as compensation for mj 
es as Guardian as aforesaid, one hundred and four dollars— 
I have charged for my services for the year past, twenty five 
dollars, and my bill for that sum is now before the legislature— 
but I ha\c nut yet rec d it— nor do I know that it has yet been 
allowed — 

Very Respectfully, 

Yours &c. HOLDER WORDWELL 



APPENDIX D. 

Miscellaneous Files 

Reports of Indian Guardians, etc. 

Report of the Guardian of the Troy Indians. 

The population of the tribe is thirty three. 

Six families reside on the Indian lands: and contain in the 
aggregate sixteen persons. 

Three other families reside in this vicinity, not on the lands 
of the tribe. 

The genera] condition of the tribe is much better than in 
former years; the dwellings are in ^ood repair: and some small 
portions of land well cultivated. 



94 

Two persons belonging to the tribe (both females) about 80 
years of age are supported entirely at the expense of the Common- 
wealth, excepting their fire wood, which is obtained from the 
Indian lands. 

Several others have received some aid from the state, mostly 
on account of sickness. 

Amount expended by Guardian, for support of paupers, care 
of sick, and medical services, for nine months to Oct. 1, 1857. 
Three hundred Sixty four & 7-100 I Mlars $364.07 

Paid for three Pews & expense of pur-chasing the same 166.25 

Paid Indian Woman for her right in Woodland, by 

order of Council 51.76 

Incidental expenses 23.35 

Guardian's Services 75.00 

s.;s(i. i:; 
( Ine hundred and Sixty dollars of the above, was appropriated 
by the Legislature of 1857, for the purchase of Pews in Meeting 
House at North Westport. 

Amount received for Wood Sold from Indian land $90.93 

Amount due from Rent of Pasture on Indian land 25.00 



Fall River. $115.93 

Oct. 6, 1857 Respectfully submitted, 

BENJAMIN F. WINSLOW 

Guardian 

APPENDIX E. 

Miscellaneous Files; 
Reports of Indian Guardians, etc. 

To His Excellency i he < k>\ ernor, and the Honorable Council of the 
Commonwealth of Massachusetts; 

The undersigned, Guardian of the 
Troy Indians would respectfullj beg leave to submit the following 
reporl for the j ear ending September 30 1861. 
The real estate occupied by said Indians consists of 190 acres 
and 64 rods Of land, valued at $3000.00 

and 5 Dwelling Houses valued at $1000.00 

Total $400.00 



95 

Whole number of the tribe living in differenl places, as nearly as 
can I).' ascertained, — Eighty Six. Five families numbering 
teen persons, live on the lands of the tribe: 
The whole number who have received aid for the year ending Dec. 

:',r' L860, twenty eight, twelve adults, and sixteen children. 
Amount expended by the guardian for their support during the 
year aforesaid $577. .'{S. .<">."'>( I. (>:', was paid from the treasury of the 
Commonwealth, and the balance S2<>.75. was received for wood 
sold by the guardian. 

One death and two births have occurred since the last report. 
There has been, during the last six months, an unusual amount of 
sickness among the tribe: three persons— Alice Northup. Pamelia 
Gardner, and Abby I. Butler have received aid in consequence 
of their sickness, and those being in addition to the number 
usually receiving- help, will make the expenditures for the present 
year more than those of the last year. 

The moral condition of the tribe has improved, in some particu- 
lars since my acquaintance with it (some fifteen years ago,) many 
of the children now attend the public and Sabbath Schools: and 
are not behind many others who possess greater social privileges. 
And aside from the love of strong drink on the part of three or 
four of the older members of the tribe, they are a respectable and 
orderly people. 
All of which is respectfully submitted, 

BENJAMIN F. WINSLOW, 

Guardian Troy Indians. 
Fall River 
Sept. 30, L861. 



APPENDIX F. 

Miscellaneous Files 
Reports of Indian Guardians, etc. 

To His Excellency The Governor of the Commonwealth of Mass- 
achusetts, and the Honorable Council. 

The undersigned, Guardian of the Troy Indians, would respect- 
fully beg leave to present the following Report, for the year end- 
ing September 30 th 1865. 

The whole number of the tribe is about eighty. Three have 
died during the yeai — viz: James Northup, son of Cato and Alice 
Northup, died Oct. b", ,h 1<S(>1, disease consumption, unmarried; 



96 

Alice Northup, mother of James, died Jan s 3 , I s *',:,. widow; 
Joseph Gardner, son of Lydia Gardner, a soldier in the 5 th Mass. 
Cavalry, unmarried, died recently in Texas. 

There has been one birth since my last report, Mary F. Perry 
daughter of William and Mary Perry, born Feb 5 2 d 1865. 

Pour members of the tribe have been in the Army of the U.S. 
in the 5 th Massachusetts Cavalry; and are now in the service 
with one exception;— Joseph Gardner, deceased, David Northup. 
Charles A. Page and Ebenezer Lindsey. 

There is one in the State Alms House at Bridgewater, — James 
Crank. 

And one, William H. Gardner, age 12 years, in the State Reform 
School, Westbor'o. 
The general condition of the tribe remains the same as heretofore. 

Expenditures for support, for the year ending December 31 st 
1864. and for repairs of buildings. $646.24 

Salary of Guardian 100.00 



Amount received from State $686.74 

Do for rent of land 25.00 

Do " Sales of W I 34.50 



$746.24 



$746.24 



Respectfully submitted, 

Your Obedient Servant . 

B. F. WINSLOW, 

( luardian of the Troy Indians 

Fall River, October .V" ISC,',. 



APPENDIX G. 

Senate Files: Miscellaneous. 
1869 

Report of Committee on Indian Affairs. 
Public Doci men r No. 35. 

Commonwealth of Massachusetts. 
To His Excellencj the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massa- 
chusetts, and the Honorable Council. 
The undersigned, Guardian of the Troy Indians, would 
i fully submit the following Report for the year endii 
September, L868. 



97 

The general condition of the tribe remains about the same as 
at last report. Three births have occurred during the year: a son 
to Thomas and Julia Crank, born March 10, 1868; a son to William 
and Mary Perry, born 19th February, 1868, and a daughter to 
Josephus and Sophia Perry, born September, 1868. One death 
has occurred, viz: a son of William and Mary Perry, died on the 
23d of August, 1868, aged six months. 

There are now six members of the tribe who from age and 
infirmity need a large part of their support from the State, viz.: 
Sarah Crank, Pamelia Gardner, Persis Crank. Lydia Gardner and 
Lucretia Miller. One, James Crank, is still at the alms-house, 
Bridge water. 

The expenditures for the year ending December 31, 1867, 
were as follows.:— 
For supplies of provision, clothing, medical services, 

cutting and drawing wood, and other charges, $469 46 

Salary of Guardian, 100 00 



Received from rent of land, ;S2.">.i>u 

from State Treasurer. 544.46 



s.m;h it; 



sr.tiit. k; 



Fall River. October 1. 1868. 



Respectfully submitted, 

B. F. WINSLOW, 
Guardian Troy Indians. 



1 Endorsement.] 

H. R. Feb. 13, '69 

Ref d to the Com ttee on Indians. 
Sent up for concurrence 

W S ROBINSON (Ik 
Senate Feb. 15, 1869 
Concurred. 

S. N. GIFFORD Clerk 



INDEX. 

Page 

Algouquins 35, 

Allotment of 1764 

Bill, Substitute-, Introduction 

Brief for City oi Fall River 3 

Buildings on Reservation, Picture o) 33 

Church, Benj., Deed to Massachusetts 

from " 28 



Deeds. 

Daniel Wilcox to Massachusetts 25 

Massachusetts to Benjamin Church 

Benjamin Church to Massachusetts 

Kliot. John 

Emancipation of Indians 'I 

Fall River City Charters I 

formerly called Troj I 

Incorporated as town 1 

Incorporated as city I 

Reservoir Commission 5 

Water Supply Acts. 1 

Indians called Troy Indians 61 

Military Service 3.) 

Indian Reservation, Title 10,11,18-32 

Freemen's Purchase 

Freetown 3 

History of Title of Reservation 

History of Reservation 3 I ct seq. 

Indians, Emancipation of 14 

Indians, Fall River Called Troy 61 

Military Service .; I 

Names oi Tribes 36, 37 

Preachers to 15 

Magistrate 

Indian Meeting House 46 

Plantation. Established 

Plantation. Exchanged 52 

Reservation in Fall River, Title 10. 1 

Si hool I louse, 46 

Kin- Phi'ip 



100 

Magua Charta of Massachusetts Indians i| 

Massachusets, Deed of Wilcox to 25 

to Church 28 

of Church to 

Massasoil 42.79 

House, [udian, \6 

Partition of 1 764 59 

ts, 36, 37 

Pokanokets, 

Preachers to I udians 45 

Picture of Buildings on Reser^ atiou 33 

Reservation, Title to Indian, in Fall River 10, n, iS -^2 

Reservoir Commission, Fall River ■ ■ • 5 

House, I ndian 46 

Substitute Bill introduction 

Title, Indian Reservation in Fall River 10.11. iS-.vi 

if Formerly Called A 

Venison to Province 52 

Wampanoags 36, 37 

Wilcox, Daniel, deed to Massachusetts 25 

Wilcox, Daniel 17. \S 

Williams. Roger, 73 



